Muzaffarnagar riots: 16 go free for lack of evidence

AGRA: A court in Muzaffarnagar acquitted 16 murder-accused in a 2013 communal riots case due to lack of evidence. Additional district sessions Judge Nishant Singla delivered the verdict on April 18. The case pertained to murder of one Sohanveer Singh , 60, of Bhokarehri village.

According to police, on Sept 7, 2013, Singh was allegedly killed while returning home after attending a mahapanchayat in Nagla Mandaur. Soon after the mahapanchayat, communal violence spread across the region.

Jogendra Verma , son of Singh, filed a police complaint stating: "On Sept 7, 2013, I, along with my father and others, were returning to our village on a tractor-trolley via Chaudhary Charan Singh canal route. Near Nangla Buzurg, we were ambushed by a group of men armed with guns, pistols, axes, spears, sickles, sticks and iron rods. We hid in the forest until late evening and somehow managed to return home later, but my father did not arrive. We believe he was murdered and his body was disposed of."

Later, a case was registered against all 16 accused, who belonged to another faith, under multiple sections, including 147 (rioting) and 302 (murder). An SIT later filed a chargesheet, but the court found insufficient evidence to convict them, said district govt counsel Rajeev Sharma on Tuesday.

"The witnesses failed to give any concrete evidence to establish that the accused were directly involved," the court order reads.