Why was Mohammed Akhlaq Killed?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2015
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mohammed Akhlaq’s murder shocked India. A mob broke into his house last month and beat him to death. They believed a rumour that Mr Akhlaq, a Muslim, had broken a Hindu taboo by slaughtering a cow. We find out how the cow became such a political animal and look at whether Hindu nationalists are feeling bolder in today’s India.
(Photo: An Indian woman sprinkles yoghurt paste onto a cow's forehead. Credit:Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the BBC World Service. This is Helena Merriman with the inquiry. |
| 0:12.7 | This week, why was Mohammed Acklack killed? |
| 0:18.3 | It's 1030 PM in the village of Dudry in Northern India. |
| 0:22.3 | 50 year old Mohammed Acklack has just gone to bed |
| 0:24.8 | after having supper with his wife and children. As they sleep, two hundred men |
| 0:31.2 | armed with bricks and knives are walking through the village towards their house. |
| 0:35.9 | By the time the family hears them, it's too late. |
| 0:39.6 | The men break down the front door with such ferocity that it splits down the middle. |
| 0:45.1 | They push their way through windows, bending the grills with their bare hands. |
| 0:51.6 | Once inside, they close in on Mohammed. He runs into a corner and there they begin to beat him. |
| 0:58.0 | He doesn't stand a chance. The final blows are dealt with his daughter's sewing machine. The men then turn on his son and the rest of the family and drag them out of the house. |
| 1:10.0 | By the time the police arrive, an hour later, Mohammed is dead. |
| 1:14.0 | His son, barely alive, is taken into intensive care. |
| 1:18.0 | And then the questions begin. |
| 1:22.0 | Why would 200 people suddenly turn on this family with |
| 1:25.9 | such violent hatred? Why was their father and husband Mohammed Acklack killed. Part one. Part 1, the Murder. |
| 1:49.3 | The Village itself is just like any other rural Indian village. Not very poor but not very affluent either. |
| 1:55.0 | Our first expert witness, BBC journalist Sanjoy Majumda, he went to the village a few days after the murder. |
| 2:03.0 | The one thing that you see a lot when you drive up to the village is much of the countryside |
| 2:08.0 | which once was filled predominantly with farmland has now been developed by real estate developers so you'll see |
| 2:15.0 | large apartment blocks new shopping malls office blocks but the village itself |
| 2:21.0 | remains completely untouched so most of the houses are made of brick. |
... |
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