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Incident linked to 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots: Court allows withdrawal of case against UP minister, ex-Union minister, 23 others
According to prosecution officer Rahul Singh, the case relates to a mahapanchayat held at Nagla Mador in Muzaffarnagar district on July 31, 2013
A special MP-MLA court in Muzaffarnagar has allowed the prosecution to withdraw a case against 25 Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and Hindu activists, including Uttar Pradesh minister of state (independent charge) for vocational education and skill development Kapil Dev Agarwal, former Union minister Sanjeev Balyan and former UP minister Suresh Rana, in connection with an incident linked to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
The court’s decision, pronounced on August 12, follows the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to withdraw the case. The prosecution subsequently moved an application before the court seeking permission to formally withdraw the proceedings.
District government counsel Rajiv Sharma said additional chief judicial magistrate and MP-MLA court judge Devendra Kumar Faujdar allowed the prosecution’s application on Wednesday.
The other accused include former Uttar Pradesh minister Ashok Kataria, former BJP MPs Bhartendu Singh and Sohanvir Singh, former BJP MLAs Ashok Kansal and Umesh Malik, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Sadhvi Prachi and Narsinghanand of Dasna Shiv Temple, besides several other BJP leaders and Hindu activists.
Kapil Dev Agarwal is a three-time Member of the Legislative Assembly representing the Muzaffarnagar Sadar seat. He won the seat in a 2016 bypoll, retaining it in the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections.
According to prosecution officer Rahul Singh, the case relates to a mahapanchayat held at Nagla Mador in Muzaffarnagar district on July 31, 2013. The accused were facing trial on allegations including violation of prohibitory orders, obstruction of public servants in the discharge of their duties and making speeches allegedly aimed at inciting communal tension.
The case is connected to the chain of events that preceded the large-scale communal violence that erupted in Muzaffarnagar and neighbouring districts.
The communal riots in August-September 2013 claimed more than 60 lives and displaced around 50,000 people, according to official figures.
The army was deployed to ensure law and order in the area and over 500 FIRs were lodged against hundreds of identified and unidentified persons for crimes such as murder, gangrape, loot, arson among others.
According to an official status report submitted by the amicus curiae to the Supreme Court in 2021, the state administration issued orders to drop 77 specific cases.
