Dadri lynching: It was mutton, NOT beef in Ikhlaq's fridge

A forensic test has proven that the meat that the Dadri lynch mob found in Mohammed Ikhlaq’s fridge last week, which they claimed was the proof they needed to lynch him, was mutton, not beef. 

The test lends support to Ikhlaq family’s claim that they had not kept beef in their house.

On September 29, Mohmmad Ikhlaq was dragged out of his home and stoned to death on a village street after a public announcement from the local temple that the family had slaughtered a calf and eaten its meat. 

Soon after the incident, Ikhlaq’s inconsolable daughter had asked the question: “What if it is proved that the meat was not beef? Will they bring my father back to life?”

The lynching incident has shocked and outraged the nation, with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee urging for calm.

Breaking his silence over the Dadri lynching, the PM invoked President Pranab Mukherjee’s message, saying the countrymen should follow the path he has shown for preserving the core civilisational values of diversity, tolerance and plurality.

“I have said it earlier also. We have to decide whether Hindus should fight Muslims or poverty. Muslims should decide whether to fight Hindus or poverty.... The country will benefit only when Hindus and Muslims together fight poverty and defeat it... The country has to stay united,” Modi said while addressing the election rally.

Making it clear that he stands against hate politics, he said, “It is the unity, communal harmony, brotherhood and peace that will take the nation forward.”