The Yogi Government has filed an application to withdraw cases filed against the BJP leaders in the case related to the Muzaffarnagar riots in September 2013, who have been accused of making inflammatory speeches at the Mahapanchayat held in Nagla Mandore village of Muzaffarnagar. These accused include Hindutva leader Sadhvi Prachi along with Sangeet Som, MLA from Sardhana (Meerut), Suresh Rana, MLA from Shamli and Kapil Dev Aggarwal, MLA from Muzaffarnagar Sadar.
These BJP leaders are also accused of violating orders, obstructing government work and joining arson. Muzaffarnagar public prosecutor Rajiv Sharma said that a petition has been filed in the court related to the Uttar Pradesh government to withdraw the case, which is to be heard.
In fact, in February 2018, BJP MP Sanjeev Balyan appealed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to withdraw the cases against Hindus in the Muzaffarnagar Riots case, after which the Yogi government gave 13 points including this case. Under Muzaffarnagar and Shamli started the process of withdrawing the cases by seeking details from the district administration.
What was the matter
On August 27, 2013, a clash broke out between the Jat and the Muslim community over the case of a Muslim youth molesting a Jat community girl in Kawal village, following which the girl’s two brothers Gaurav and Sachin beat the Muslim youth. He was killed. In response to this, Muslims committed violence and killed the two brothers of the girl.
Both sides called their own mahapanchayat regarding this matter. In this mahapanchayat held in Nangla Mandore on September 07, local BJP leaders were accused of inciting the Jat community to avenge their speech. The farmers returning from the Mahapanchayat were attacked near the Jolly Canal, after which riots broke out.
The fire of this riot spread to Muzaffarnagar and the surrounding area. The rioters burnt farmers’ tractors and motorcycles. 65 people lost their lives and mass casualties were reported in this riot. A photographer and journalist also died in this riot and thousands of people became homeless. During the riots, curfew was imposed in this area for about 20 days and the city was handed over to the army.
During the Samajwadi Party government, a total of 510 criminal cases were registered and chargesheets were filed in 175 cases in Shamli and Muzaffarnagar. The case in connection with the Mahapanchayat was filed by Charan Singh Yadav, the then station officer of Shikha Police Station, on 7 September 2013.
Along with Sadhvi Prachi, the three BJP MLAs and former MP Harendra Singh Malik were accused of making inflammatory speeches against a community, violating orders, convening a mahapanchayat without the permission of the district administration, obstructing the work of government officials. Cases were registered against all of them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).