UP minister and several BJP leaders appear in court
Several bjp leaders including Uttar Pradesh minister kapil dev Agarwal, former ministers suresh Rana and ashok Kataria, former bjp mla ashok Kansal, former mp Bharatendu Singh appeared in the MLA/MP court in muzaffarnagar on tuesday after a non-bailable warrant was issued in the muzaffarnagar riots case. Special Judge Devendra Faujdar has fixed november 16 for framing of charges against the accused. Meanwhile, Dasna temple priest Yati Narsinghanand did not appear in court and a non-bailable warrant was again issued against him. The court ordered all the accused to appear on the fixed date.
Prosecution officer Neeraj Singh said on tuesday, 'A case was registered against 20 people including Uttar Pradesh minister kapil dev Agarwal, former Union minister Sanjeev Baliyan, VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi, former minister suresh Rana, former mp Bharatendu Singh, former mla Umesh Malik and ashok Kansal, Dasna temple priest Yeti Narsinghanand.
Riots took place in august 2013
According to the prosecution, the accused participated in a panchayat in Naglamador village in august 2013 and gave provocative speeches. More than 60 people were killed and more than 40,000 people were displaced in the 2013 communal riots in muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts. However, in september this year, the local court acquitted 10 accused due to lack of evidence. The accused who were acquitted by the court included Gaurav, Amarpal, Rocky, Ratan, Dinesh, Yogesh, Abhishek, Ruby, Kapil Kumar and Manoj Kumar. Additional district and Sessions Judge Anjani Kumar Singh had acquitted all the 10 accused, saying that the prosecution had failed to prove its charges. This order was passed on september 26 and made available two days later. They had alleged that the rioters had beaten her husband Ashu to death on september 8, 2013.