Yogi Adityanath govt recommends withdrawal of 38 criminal cases against over 100 accused in Muzaffarnagar riots

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has recommended withdrawal of 38 cases against more than 100 accused in the deadly riots in Muzaffarnagar district that claimed at least 60 lives and displaced over 50,000 people, reports said. According to reports, UP’s special secretary of law JJ Singh had directed Muzaffarnagar district magistrate Rajeev Sharma in January to withdraw the cases. [caption id=“attachment_4483901” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. PTI[/caption] TimesNow  reported that the “UP government had given the sanctions to withdraw the cases on 10 January and the note was sent on  29 January”. Though reports in January claimed that the note recommended retraction of only 18 cases, media reports on Wednesday put the number of cases to be withdrawn at 38. According to The Times of India, the riot cases “deal with charges of dacoity, use of fire and explosive substances, and defiling places of worship and outraging religious feelings…. Another case pertaining to obstruction to work with criminal intent and injury by a man under Section 7 of CRPC will also be withdrawn.” According to PTI, the directive had come after the state government sought details of 125 cases filed in relation to the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013. Additional district magistrate Amit Kumar had told the news agency that the state government had sought the details to review the possibility of withdrawing the 125 cases pending in courts. Several leaders of the ruling BJP, including MPs Sanjeev Balyan and Bharatendra Singh, MLAs Sangeet Som and Umesh Malik, have been named in these 125 cases. Minister in the state government Suresh Rana and Hindutva leader Sadhvi Prachi are also accused in cases related to the Muzaffarnagar riots. The state government had formed SIT to probe the riot cases. The SIT has filed charge sheets in 175 cases. Police had registered cases against 6,869 people and arrested 1,480 people in connection with the riots. According to the SIT, 418 accused have been acquitted in 54 cases due to lack of evidence. With inputs from PTI