Muzaffarnagar riots: All 23 accused in murder, loot and arson cases acquitted due to lack of evidence

 Muzaffarnagar riots: All 23 accused in murder, loot and arson cases acquitted due to lack of evidence

👉 60 people died in the riots and over 40 thousand people were made homeless

New Delhi, February 8 (Manpreet Singh Khalsa):- More than a decade after the deadly riots in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh in 2013, the case is back in the headlines. A local court on Saturday acquitted 22 accused in a case of murder, arson and loot in Mohammadpur Raisingh village of the district due to "lack of evidence". While pronouncing the verdict, the court said that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt. Four other accused died during the trial. It is worth noting that the case is related to the widespread communal violence that broke out in the district on September 7, 2013, which resulted in the loss of several lives. On September 8, a mob allegedly entered Mohammadpur Raisingh village, chanting religious slogans and attacked houses of members of another community. According to the prosecution, the mob vandalized and looted several houses and then set them on fire. A villager named Rahimuddin was killed during the violence. The police had filed a chargesheet against 27 accused in the case. However, four accused - Praveen, Nakul, Bablu and Suraj - died during the trial, taking the number of accused facing trial to 23. The first FIR in the case was registered by Sub-Inspector Ganga Prasad against 1,300 unidentified persons on charges of murder. The FIR also mentions that the mob had set police vehicles on fire. Following this, Rahimuddin's son Hanif filed a second FIR at Bhora Kalan police station, accusing the mob of inciting religious fanaticism, murder and rioting. Senior defence lawyer Satyendra Kumar Singh said the case was heard by Additional Judge Kanishk Kumar Singh. After examining the evidence and statements of witnesses, the court concluded that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt. It is noteworthy that 60 people died and over 40,000 people were made homeless in the communal riots that took place in Muzaffarnagar and surrounding areas in August and September 2013.

On October 10, 2022, a special judge of the Muzaffarnagar MP/MLA court sentenced Khatauli MLA Vikram Saini and 11 others to two years in prison in a case related to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. However, they were granted bail shortly after the sentence was pronounced. In 2019, a Muzaffarnagar court sentenced seven people to life imprisonment in a case related to the murder of Sachin and Gaurav. The Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission of Inquiry, set up in 2016 to investigate the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, had blamed intelligence failure and negligence of some top officials for the violence. In 2021, the SIT said that 1,117 people were acquitted due to lack of evidence in 97 cases related to murder, rape, robbery and arson during the riots. According to SIT officials, the police registered 510 cases against 1,480 people and filed chargesheets in 175 cases. The SIT was unable to file chargesheets in 20 cases as the state government refused to allow it to prosecute. MLAs and MPs have also been listed as accused in these 20 cases related to the riots.