Mohammad Akhlaq ,his wife daughter’s picture
NEW DELHI: With the countdown to next year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections underway, the state’s political temperature is rising sharply over a series of developments linked to convicts serving life terms in sensational cases of rape, murder and lynching. The opposition has mounted a fierce attack on the BJP government, accusing Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of using remission and legal relief for hardened criminals and powerful bahubali’s as an electoral strategy to consolidate caste and political support.
The controversy has brought back the memories of the 2015 Dadri lynching, in which Mohammad Akhlaq (50), a resident of Bisada village in Gautam Budh Nagar district, was brutally killed by a mob over rumours that he had consumed or stored beef. The lone Muslim family in the village was attacked by 18 men, allegedly belonging to upper-caste Thakur families.
While attempts were made to close the trial, a Noida court on Tuesday rejected the closure report and ordered that proceedings against the 18 accused—who face life imprisonment—be fast-tracked. The court’s decision has been welcomed by rights groups, who see it as a rare pushback against political pressure in a deeply polarised case.
Adding fuel to the political fire, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday suspended the jail sentence of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a four-time legislator from Unnao, who was convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Sengar was also found guilty in the murder of the rape survivor’s father, who had been pursuing justice relentlessly. The victim, a minor at the time of the crime, and her family members staged a dharna near India Gate following the court order but were forcibly removed by police, triggering outrage across party lines.
The Samajwadi Party has taken the lead in attacking the BJP over what it calls a systematic erosion of the rule of law. Party national spokesperson Sarvesh Tiwari accused the Yogi Adityanath government of “institutionalising criminalisation of politics” to influence the electoral outcome in the country’s largest state.
“This government is selectively weakening judicial processes, encouraging caste mobilisation and communal polarisation to divide society and retain power,” he said.
As courts assert themselves in some cases while granting relief in others, the BJP finds itself on the defensive. With law and order long projected as Yogi Adityanath’s strongest credential, the unfolding developments threaten to turn one of the BJP’s core narratives into a central fault line of the 2026 UP Assembly battle.
[Writer is Senior Journalist and Political Commentator]
Picture credit social media
Umakant Lakhera is a Senior Journalist and Political Commentator
