Fresh violence erupted in Bisara on Saturday — five days after Mohammad Akhlaq was beaten to death and his son severely injured — when a mob of women residents from the village pelted stones at journalists and damaged media vehicles. On Saturday morning, the women surrounded OB vans and cars parked on a street close to Akhlaq’s house, demanding that they leave Bisara. While a group started banging on cars, other groups heckled mediapersons and asked them to leave the village. Minutes later, the mob began pelting stones at mediapersons while chasing them. [related-post] Sources said a meeting had been held in the village on Friday, where residents had expressed their concerns about media presence in the area. “The meeting was attended by village elders. They expressed displeasure about the presence of media and coverage of the incident. As a preventive measure, security in the village had been increased,” said a senior police officer. Even as the village remained inaccessible to mediapersons on Saturday, some managed to go back to Bisara during Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s visit. While police said they were trying to bring the situation under control, a media car was attacked during Kejriwal’s visit. Alleging that the media was biased in its reports on the incident, a woman resident said, “Why do you go to his (Akhlaq’s) house? Why are you not listening to what the other residents have to say? The men in our house are being picked up by the police.”
