Akhlaq’s daughter and sister at his residence in Bisara village, in Dadri. (Photo: IE by Gajendra Yadav)
by National Committee, IFTU
New Delhi: Those employees of Denso India Limited (situated in NOIDA) who lived in Dadri learnt in the early hours of 29th September that the brother of one of their workers had been beaten to death late the previous night by a mob in his village Bishada situated 4 kms. north of Dadri. The son of the dead man had also been severely beaten and was fighting for life in a nearby hospital where had been admitted by the police.
Led by Com. Radheyshyam, Member of the National Committee of Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and also ex-General Secretary of the Shramik Sangh along with Shri Vinod Bhati ex-President of Shramik Sangh and other workmen associated with the Shramik Sangh, a team of employees of Denso India Ltd. went to Bishada to console the workman Jan Mohammed and his family on 29th September, 2015. There they learnt the details of the horrible circumstances concerning these killings.
This village is the native village of Jan Mohammed (family has lived here for generations) who himself lives in Dadri and works as a technician in Denso India Ltd. His brother, Ikhlaq Ahmed (who was killed) worked as a blacksmith and was a living in the village. Of his other brothers, the eldest, Zamir Ahmed, works in a private company in Delhi and lives in Loni, the second, Afzal Ahmed, is an employee of Indian Railways and lives next door in village Bishada itself where he is constructing another house. Ikhlaq himself was living in the village and earlier had been a temporary employee in Denso India Ltd. Jan Mohd. is the youngest.
Late Ikhlaq Ahmed’s elder son is in the Indian Air Force and is posted in Chennai. His younger son, Danish, is lying injured. Ikhlaq also has a daughter. In the village of 9500 voters and 2500 families, the houses of the two brothers are at a distance from that of 32 other Muslim families who live beyond the temple. The village is Thakur dominated (part of satta or seven Thakur dominated villages); there are some scheduled caste families besides. One person from among them is also a permanent employee of Denso India Ltd. The nearest thana is at Jarcha, 1-2 km. from the village. It was apparent that the brothers had worked hard, managed to educate the children and had average lifestyle as well.
The team learnt that activity of the BJP had started recently in this village itself, the area MP is Mahesh Sharma, an important functionary of the BJP. The youth of the village were in contact with Central BJP functionaries and some have started roaming in streets wearing shirts imprinted with Hindu religious symbols. Many of these youth take alcohol and are very rude and arrogant. Three months earlier, a priest had been appointed to the local temple which did not have a priest earlier. The temple itself has a public address system with four loudspeakers whose sound reaches the entire village. According to Jan Mohd. the family (both the houses) had not done any sacrifice on Bakr-id on September 25. Goat meat of sacrifice was sent by late Ikhlaq’s married daughter, and same was cooked and some stored in the fridge. Some other people of the village from other community, known to late Ikhlaq and who were non-vegetarians, also ate the meat.
Around 8 PM some photos of beef being found in a utensil and being confiscated by the police were uploaded in the social media. The name of this village was written below the photos though nobody has said till date that such an incident had occurred in this village. After 9 PM, three or four youth went to the temple and the priest says he was forced to announce that everyone should assemble as cow was lying slaughtered in the village. Around 1500 people or more started collecting, and the family said that around 100 entered the narrow gali in front of the house, broke open the gate, scaled the wall, shouting abuses. The daughter of late Ikhlaq told the workers’ team that some youth beat her grandmother, some of them went to the first floor where Ikhlaq and his son Danish were sitting. The youth were armed with lathis. A sawing machine is also kept in the room. They beat up bother father and son, battered them with machine, left the son there but dragged Ikhlaq’s body into the gali and left it there about 150 yards from the house. By then the PCR arrived. Ikhlaq’s daughter has been able to name ten youth among the killers as they were neighbours whom she could identify.
IFTU National Committee has received this report and is releasing the same. We strongly condemn the ghastly incident which was clearly executed with prior planning and in organized fashion. Ikhlaq’s brother’s house and the family next door was left untouched. We are amazed that BJP MP, Mr. Mahesh Sharma, attributes the incident to ‘misunderstanding’ and wonder how naïve the Modi Govt. and the RSS think people are. We express our condolences and sympathies with the family. We commend the workmen of Denso for their intervention and call on the workmen of Denso India and other industries to join us in ensuring justice to their colleague’s brother. We demand that the UP Govt. arrest the guilty immediately, ensure security to the family and expose the political elements who planned and executed this murder.
The RSS and BJP are systematically communally polarizing areas where people of both the communities have lived side by side for generations. We call upon the working class to expose communal conspiracies of RSS-BJP to divide the fighting strength of the people on their democratic demands, and to defeat their conspiracies.
