Five acquitted in 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case over mosque arson vandalism

    Muzaffarnagar, Nov 6 (PTI) A local court has acquitted five persons in a case related to vandalism and arson at a mosque during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots citing lack of evidence, a lawyer said on Friday.

    Additional District and Sessions Judge Vijay Kumar acquitted Anuj, Arvind, Nitu, Ankit and Ramkumar on Thursday, observing that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against them, government counsel Narendra Sharma said.

    According to Sharma, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had filed a charge sheet against the five accused after investigating the incident that took place on September 8, 2013, in Muthbhar village under the Bhorakala police station limits.

    The accused were charged with vandalising and setting the mosque on fire, besides looting around Rs 1 lakh cash during the riots.

    According to the complaint lodged by victim Shahbuddin, more than 50 people had allegedly vandalised the mosque and set it ablaze. They also allegedly looted cash from the mosque and ransacked and set fire to his house.

    The SIT subsequently filed the charge sheet against the five persons in connection with the incident.

    The acquittal came after all three prosecution witnesses, including the complainant, turned hostile during the trial and did not support the prosecution's case.

    The prosecution had examined Shahbuddin, Sajid Ali and Abid Ali as witnesses. During their examination and cross-examination, they denied having witnessed the incident, weakening the prosecution's case.

    The court subsequently acquitted all five accused on November 5 for lack of evidence.

    The 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots had left more than 60 people dead and displaced over 40,000 others. Police had registered 510 cases in connection with the violence and arrested 1,480 people.

    The SIT subsequently investigated the riot-related cases and filed charge sheets in 175 of them.    In August, in a separate development related to the riots, a special MP-MLA court had allowed the withdrawal of a case against 25 BJP leaders, Hindu activists and others, including SP MP, accused of inciting communal tension through their speeches at a panchayat.

    Those named in the case include former Uttar Pradesh minister Suresh Rana, former Union minister Sanjeev Balyan, former BJP MP Bhartendu Singh, VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi and Yati Narsinghanand, head priest of a Shiva temple in Ghaziabad and Samajwadi Party MP Harendra Malik.    The withdrawal followed the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to withdraw the case, according to the additional information.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)