Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday met the family of Mohammad Akhlaq and Pehlu Khan – the victims of lynching incidents in Dadri and Alwar. A delegation consisting of members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had also accompanied the families, PTI reported.

The delegation said it sought Singh’s intervention in the cases and also asked for prevention of such incidents in the future. They said there is a “pattern in the violence” that proves these were not “spontaneous cases of mob violence”. The delegation claimed that the incidents were carried out by some organised groups of cow vigilantes.

“In almost all these cases, the accused, if and when arrested, are easily given bail, charges are not framed even after months if not years,” the delegation said in a memorandum, according to IANS. “On the contrary, in most cases victims or their families are faced with false cases; compensation is not given in many of the cases.”

The CPI(M) claimed that Singh was at a “loss of words” when the party members questioned him about steps the government has taken to ensure the security of citizens, PTI reported. Singh is believed to have said that the matter was a state subject.

Besides, the Dadri and Alwar lynchings, the CPI(M) also raised the killing of Muslim boy Junaid in Haryana, the gangrape of two women in Haryana, and the beating up of a truck driver Rizwan, who was transporting buffaloes, by a mob in Delhi in April this year, IANS reported.