Muzaffarnagar Riots: 10 Acquitted Inmurder Case Due To ‘lack Of Evidence’ | Agra News – Times of India

AGRA: A local court acquitted 10 accused allegedly involved in a murder case during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots due to “lack of sufficient evidence”. During the trial, the complainant and her mother turned “hostile”, making it difficult for the prosecution to establish the case.
The incident dates to Sept 8, 2013, when local resident Az Mohd alias Ashu, 30, was beaten to death with sticks and sharp-edged objects in Phugana.
A case was initially registered at the local police station by Ashu’s wife, Imrana. In her complaint, she had said, “As we were heading towards the bus stand, Ashu and I were surrounded by a mob.” Imrana alleged that Gaurav, his father Amarpal, Rocky alias Don, Ratan, Kapil, Sachin, Dinesh, Yogesh, Abhishek, Ruby, Master Shripal and Manoj — all locals — were part of the mob who brutally attacked Ashu.
After the probe, a special investigation team gave a clean chit to one of the accused, Shripal, and filed a chargesheet against the remaining 11. Another accused Sachin, in the meantime, died in a road accident.
Lawyer Shoraj Malik, privy to the case details, told TOI: “A case under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 147 (rioting) was registered and after hearing both sides, the court pronounced its judgment.” The court order was delivered on Thursday and made available late on Saturday. Notably, the complainant and her mother had altered their statements during the trial, with the former initially naming four individuals.
A number of court acquittals have already taken place, mainly due to either insufficient evidence or witnesses turning hostile, in the various cases related to the 2013 communal violence in western UP. In one such case on the night of Sept 7, seven people accused of robbery and arson at Bahawari were let off by a local court due to “lack of evidence“, after all the witnesses, including the plaintiff, turned hostile.
Communal riots had erupted in parts of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts after a 25-year-old man, Shahnawaz, was stabbed to death on Aug 27, 2013, at Kawal, allegedly by a group of eight. Soon after the murder, a crowd caught the two purported attackers, Sachin and Gaurav, and lynched them. At least 62 people lost their lives in the riots and over 50,000 were forced to flee their homes.