“The media labelled it the ‘murderous temple’. Now, see how the temple is lying empty,” says Rakesh Rana, a resident of Bisada village near Dadri, Uttar Pradesh (UP), where 50-year-old Akhlaq Mohammed was lynched to death last September over rumours that he and his family slaughtered a calf.

Many like Rakesh, who is employed in a motor vehicle company in Ghaziabad, speak at length about the temple devoid of devotees. The pink shikhar (tower) of the Shiva temple stands out against the light blue background of the sky. Atop the shikhar are two loudspeakers, placed at right angles.

The temple lies unattended and without a priest. Former patrons have found other temples to flock to. The temple square once reverberated with songs from functions, festivities, and religious programmes. Some residents say the temple is more than 600 years old.

“There was a time when devotional and religious songs were played. But, the loudspeakers have been mute for months now,” says Ramesh Sharma, a 70-year-old shopkeeper, who works out of the temple square.

What Ramesh doesn’t mention is that a little less than a year ago, announcements from these very loudspeakers had a role to play in the lynching of a man.

Revenge over remorse

Akhlaq’s home in Bisada lies empty, its blue-and-red door firmly shut. The village has no sympathy for Akhlaq’s family. In Bisada’s narrow dung-lined lanes, along with the lament for the defunct temple, there is also desire for revenge. The release of a new lab report on June 2, 2016, which said the meat collected from the crime scene belonged to a cow or its progeny, emboldened one Surajpal from Bisada to move a local court to press for an FIR.

The FIR, lodged under Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955, names Akhlaq, his mother Asgari, brother Jaan Mohammed, wife Ikraman, son Danish, daughter Sayasta, and nephew’s wife Sona. It claims that an eyewitness had seen the seven slaughtering a calf.

Akhlaq’s son Sartaj Ahmed has called the Mathura lab report a “conspiracy“. For the villagers, the FIR is an example of natural justice taking its course. Eighteen young men, who were picked up by the police, have been incarcerated for 10 months, without bail. Villagers swear by the innocence of most of them. They were students or job-seekers. One was about to join his factory job in Gurgaon in the next three days. It’s not hard to see why these men have the sympathy of most. Sanjay Rana’s son and nephew are among the 18 men.

Once associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sanjay has kept himself busy filing RTI applications, pushing for an FIR against the family before Surajpal moved a local court.  Upset with “no help” from the BJP, Sanjay, when asked about the upcoming state elections, says, “Let them be warned. I will fight with the last drop of my blood, but won’t let any political party use Bisada. No politics over the jailed sons of Dadri.”

Portrait of a dead man

For Sanjay, it is Akhlaq who had committed a grave sin, and all that followed was only an “accident.” Allegations fly thick and fast.

“Akhlaq went to Pakistan to meet his relatives recently, and he came back radicalised. He would not say ‘ram ram’, but ‘namaste’. He became arrogant. It is a known fact that Muslims eat beef, but most do it discreetly to avoid hurting sensibilities. The man slaughtered a calf, and then openly displayed its entrails,” he alleges.

Akhlaq in fact had visited Pakistan only way back in 1988 and the family’s clarifications were well reported. Danish says, “Why would anyone want to go to Pakistan, when there is so much tension between two countries? My father had been there once way back in 1988, when I was not even born.” However, in Bisada, facts do not come in the way of cooking up a convenient portrait of the dead man.

Villagers come up with varied figures to describe the financial assistance extended to Akhlaq’s family. Some claim that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had both extended financial aid, while others talk in hushed tones about Akhlaq’s “closeness” to Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. Villagers allege Akhlaq’s family was given four flats in Noida.

However, Danish clarifies, “The only financial aid we got is from the UP government. We had to pay for our own flat in Noida. Though they were made available to us at highly subsidised rates, we certainly did not get it for free.” While Akhlaq’s family was given one 1BHK flat, the other three were given to his brothers. Such minor distinctions do not matter for Bisada.

All is well

Despite the village’s open aversion to Akhlaq’s family, most try their best to convince outsiders that the village is not against Muslims.

“We did not celebrate Holi or Diwali, but made sure they celebrated Eid. It is our responsibility to make them feel safe. I ferried Muslim families in my car to safer locations then. There was indeed an atmosphere of fear, but we convinced them to come back,” says one Mohan Singh.

Pointing to a group of young boys playing with a dead bat, he says, “Look at these children. Do you see any fear? Muslim boys are playing with Rajput kids. Is there any difference you see? It is all the media’s creation.” He calls out to one of the Muslim boys, asking, “Do you have any fear here?”

The boy waves his hands and giggles before returning to the dead bat where he and the other kids joke: “This [the dead bat] is Akhlaq’s brother. Upset with the Bisada episode, he committed suicide.”

On the surface, however, it does seem that the village is getting back to regular life.

There are 36 Muslim families in the village, outnumbered by Rajputs and Brahmins. “We had escaped, but returned when things got calm. How long can you stay away from home? Where will we stay? Things are better. There is no fear, but bad memories,” says Ruqaiya Begum, a thirty-something housewife whose family has lived here for generations.

An older Bisada resident, Rashida Banu, who is in her seventies, explains, “Our forefathers wanted all communities to live together. Muslims work in the fields of Hindus, Hindus work in Muslim households. As long as there is mutual respect, there should be no trouble.” Did Akhlaq commit the crucial mistake of hurting majoritarian sensibilities? Banu is diplomatic. “It was his destiny. What more can I say?”

Despite villagers’ fervent attempts to convince outsiders, there are slip-ups that expose feeling of contempt. While relating how the village had become a media circus, one Kunal Sharma, reminisces, “One reporter came asking questions. I asked him his name, he was a Mohammedan. Usko maine bola, ‘B******d, tumhari ek tarfe karyavaahi ke karan gaam ka naam badnaam huwa hain.’ (I told him, ‘It’s because of your one-sided coverage that the village has been defamed’).”

While Hari Om, “functional village head”, husband of village head Kaushalya, speaks about his responsibility to ensure that Muslims lived without fear, he adds, “I tell all Hindu boys – marry young, have kids, put them in hostels, and continue your studies or career. We have to think of the Hindu population, given the way Mohammedans think about increasing their numbers.”

Clearly, the faultlines remain for vested interests to exploit. Given that it is election season in UP, there will be plenty of opportunities for that to happen.