Giriraj among 23 acquitted by Bihar court in 2014 protest case

All were accused of disrupting the movement of trains during a protest over the “denial of” special category status to Bihar by the then UPA government at the Centre.

A special court in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur Saturday acquitted union minister Giriraj Singh, Vaishali MP Veena Devi, former state ministers Ramsurat Rai and Suresh Sharma and 18 others in a 2014 case in which they were accused of disrupting the movement of trains during a protest over the “denial of” special category status to Bihar by the then UPA government at the Centre.

Giriraj Singh. (HT)

The court of additional chief judicial magistrate Vikas Mishra acquitted them for lack of evidence.

Giriraj Singh and the others were protesting in Muzaffarpur along with party supporters, which led to the disruption of rail services in the district. An FIR was registered against them by the Railway Police Force (RPF) and the matter was going on in the court of Sonepur railway magistrate. The case was later transferred to the special MP-MLA court in Muzaffarpur.

“The leaders were acquitted due to a lack of evidence as the prosecution could not call any independent witness to prove its charge, nor was such a witness named in the charge sheet,” said Giriraj’s counsel Ashok Kumar.