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Also, the four men will not be arrested, the police added (Archive)
The FIR registered against the four men who were brutally assaulted by a mob in Aligarh last week will not be quashed even as the sections of cow slaughter will be removed from it, police on Friday said.
This comes two days after the police, citing a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, confirmed that the four men were transporting buffalo meat in a truck, and not cow meat as was alleged.
Aqeel (26), Arbaaz (27), Qadeem (28) and Aqil (28) were attacked by a large number of people on May 24 with rods, sticks and other objects at Alahdadpur village. Their vehicle, which was on its way from a meat factory at Roravar, was also overturned and set on fire.
Also, the four men will not be arrested, the police added.
Aligarh Superintendent of Police (Rural) Amrit Jain told The Indian Express, “The provisions related to cow slaughter will be removed since the FSL report confirmed that it was buffalo meat. But if we find other lacunae in meat transportation, permission or under the Cruelty to Animals Act, the relevant sections will be added to the FIR.”
The four were rushed to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital in Meerut in critical condition. They are still undergoing treatment.
Following the incident, the police had registered an FIR against 13 named and 25 unnamed persons on the basis of a complaint by Salim Khan, father of Aqil under various sections, including 309 (attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The FIR against the four was filed on a complaint of Vijay Bajrangi, who along with Bhanu Pratap, Vijay Kumar and Lovekush was later arrested for the assault.
SP Jain said they are conducting a detailed investigation into the matter.
Harduaganj Station House Officer (SHO) Dheeraj Yadav said, “We identified and arrested four accused. The investigation is ongoing and more people involved will be identified soon.”
Salim Khan, 50, a garment vendor, told The Indian Express, “Our children were not doing anything illegal. My son suffered severe injuries on his head. He has 58 stitches on his head. He did not deserve this.”
“We had all the documents. We have been into this business for the last five years. We had the papers from the factory too. That day, these 12 to 13 men stopped my nephew and alleged that it was cow meat and pulled him out of the vehicle,” said Mohammad Salim, 52, maternal uncle of Aqil.
“The crowd swelled from around a dozen men to 400. Had the police not arrived they would have killed our children,” he said.
Recalling the incident, Salim said the vehicle left at 7 am from the factory. “All of them have a shop at Atrauli. They make Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 a day. Just after 30 minutes they left, a mob gathered around the vehicle and started demanding Rs 50,000. But our boys did not have any money.”
“All we want is justice. All four of them are battling for life. There is not a single place on their body that has not been injured. The wounds may eventually go but the scars will remain forever,” he said.
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