The Yogi Adityanath led-BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is set to withdraw 131 cases against those accused in the 2013 communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli that killed at least 62 people.
On February 5 this year, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a meeting with a delegation of khap leaders from Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, including BJP MP Sanjiv Balyan and the party’s Budhana MLA Umesh Malik, who had presented a list of 173 cases in the Muzaffarnagar riots, and sought to withdraw them, reported The Indian Express. All the accused, said the report, are Hindus.
On September 2013, communal riots in UP's Muzaffarnagar and Shamli broke out killing at least 62 people and displacing thousand others. The Samajwadi Party, then state government, had filed an FIR against 1,455 persons, including members of the BJP, in a total of 503 cases.
UP's Law department has reportedly written a letter to the district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar and Shamla seeking details of information against 131 cases, including charges under IPC sections related to “heinous” crimes with a minimum punishment of seven years in jail, 16 cases under section 153 A on charges of promoting enmity on religious grounds, and two under section 295 A for deliberate and malicious acts intended to insult a religion or religious beliefs.
Early this year, the Adityanath government had written to the district magistrate seeking to withdraw nine criminal cases pending in a court in Muzaffarnagar against BJP leaders in connection with the riots.
In the January 5 letter to the district magistrate, Uttar Pradesh Department of Justice Special Secretary Raj Singh had sought information on 13 points, including whether the cases could be withdrawn in public interest. The letter also sought the opinion of the Muzaffarnagar Senior Superintendent of Police.
The accused are facing charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for violating prohibitory orders, deterring public servants from discharging their duties and wrongful restraint.
The accused had allegedly participated in a “mahapanchayat” and incited violence through their speeches in the last week of August 2013. The communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in August and September 2013 had claimed more than 60 lives while over 40,000 people were displaced.
In the two riot cases, 22 activists, including Mr. Rana, are facing trial in which a special investigation team (SIT) has filed chargesheets.
The UP government, in a span of one year, also took steps to withdraw criminal cases against the Chief Minister, as ordered by the Chief Minister himself. In January this year, the state government had withdrawn a 22-year-old case against Yogi Adityanath, Minister of State Shiv Pratap Shukla and 11 others. All 13 were booked for violating prohibitory orders in 1995 in Gorakhpur.
According to records of the Pipiganj police station in Gorakhpur, the case under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) was filed against Yogi Adityanath and 14 others on May 27, 1995 for holding a meeting in Pipiganj town despite imposition of prohibitory orders by the district administration.
This comes after the BJP government on December 22 last year, unanimously passed the Uttar Pradesh Criminal Law (Composition of Offences and Abatement of Trials) (Amendment) Bill 2017 for abatement of criminal trials in 20,000 cases that were lodged against 'politicians, legislators and others' for apprehension of the breach of peace.
According to his affidavit in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Adityanath has four criminal cases against him where charges have been framed; this comprises of two cases of promoting enmity between groups on ground on religious and two cases pertaining to injuring or defiling a place of worship or insult religion.
(Inputs from agencies)
