For the first time in his life, Jaan Mohammad and his family, have not voted in their native village Bishara in Gautam Budh Nagar constituency, where his brother Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched in 2015 and the family moved out citing security reasons.
On April 11, Mr. Mohammad and his family members voted at a polling station in Dadri.
The votes of Akhlaq’s family members have been shifted to Dadri town and Delhi from Bishara.
Mr. Mohammad, Akhlaq’s younger brother, who moved to Dadri town after the murder of his brother, said that his family moved out of the village due to security reasons. “In 2014, all 20 members of the family voted at a polling station in the village but after the murder of my brother, we moved out of the village. I voted at a polling station in Dadri with seven other family members,” said Mr. Mohammad.
Akhlaq’s other family members including sons Danish and Sartaj, have moved to Delhi. They will cast their votes in Delhi’s Subroto Park. Mr. Sartaj works with the India Air Force.
“We voted to a candidate who has good character and can ensure development to all sections of the society,” said Mr. Mohammad. “When I voted I felt nostalgic and missed by village where I was born and lived for forty years. We still have locked houses in the village.”
On September 28, 2015, Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched in Bishahra village near Dadri for allegedly eating and storing beef.