Meerut: In a major scandal for police, a photo showing cops standing guard around a mob dragging the body of a Hapur lynching victim, Qasim, has gone viral on social media, evoking sharp reactions from people. Another person, Samaydeen, was severely injured by the mob.The lynching on June 18 has shot into media limelight, drawing severe criticism from all corners. The photograph going viral on internet adds to the grotesque details of the incident which have sent shock waves through the region.Three cops including inspector Ashwini Kahri can be seen standing guard around the mob which is trying to drag an unconscious Qasim, who later died. Police, though apologetic about the insensitivity shown to the victim, tried to justify the act claiming that they were rushing Qasim to the police van when the picture was taken."With local help, we were trying to put Qasim in the UP 100 van and rush him to the nearest hospital for treatment. There was certainty some amount of insensitivity shown by the cops during the process,” Sankalp Sharma, Hapur superintendent of police said.Senior police officers have now gone into damage control mode. “We apologize for the insensitive manner in which the victim was handled by our cops. All the three policemen seen in the picture have been transferred to Police Lines and an inquiry has been ordered into the incident,” Prashant Kumar, additional director-general (Meerut zone) said.On the evening of June 18, a frenzied mob had lynched Qasim and critically injured his friend Samaydeen over rumours of cow slaughter in Hapur’s Bajhera Khurd village. A video of the purported incident surfaced on Tuesday in which unidentified voices can be heard justifying the attack, terming it “punishment for cow slaughter”.

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