UP govt yet to act on letter that can nail rioters: Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui & Ashish Tripathi: Times of India LUCKNOW: In sharp contrast to its repeated claims of bringing the perpetrators of Muzaffarnagar riots to book, the Uttar Pradesh government has held back a letter of Rogatory for Judicial International Assistance for Investigations and thereby blocked clinching evidence against those responsible for the worst ever communal riots in Western UP which claimed 62 lives and displaced over 60,000 persons. Addressed to the Office of the International Affairs, Criminal Justice Division, Department of Justice, US, the letter was issued by the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Muzaffarnagar as per the international norms and had to be sent to the Union home ministry to pursue it with the US government. Sources confirmed the letter was forwarded by the office of principal secretary home on October 9 for a final clearance from the state home ministry which is headed by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. The letter, marked for social networking site Facebook headquartered in US, sought details of accounts from which a video showing the murder of two youths was uploaded on August 29 claiming it to be the video of two youths who were killed in Kawal town of Muzaffarnagar on August 27. It was later shared through social media and circulated through CDs and MMS, which whipped up communal passions. The video was also shown in the mahapanchayat on September 7 following which the riots broke out Later, investigations revealed that the said video actually was of the 2010 killing of two boys at Sialkot in Punjab province of Pakistan by a mob which mistook them for thieves. However, it was picked up from the YouTube, morphed and uploaded by one Shivam Kumar on his Facebook account with a title: Bhai Sahab Dekho Kya Hua Kawal (Brothers see what happened in Kawal). The video was then shared by BJP MLA Sangeet Singh Som and 229 others on August 30. In this regard, a case was registered with the Kotwali police station of Muzaffarnagar against crime number 1118 / 2013 under Sections 153 A/420/120 B of the Indian Penal Code along with Sections 66 A & 66 F of the Information Technology (IT) Act (Amended) 2008 and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act. However, Som was arrested much later on September 21. The government also slapped the National Security Act (NSA) against him. The government claimed that the video fuelled communal passions which led to the riots, but at the same time it has held back the letter for more than two months despite the fact that lapse has led to revocation of NSA from Som. Even though Muzaffarnagar police had sought state governments help to seek information from Facebook on which the video was uploaded before the riots broke out, the government is yet to send the letter Rogatory to the Union home ministry which in turn would approach the US for evidence that could establish that the video was uploaded as a part of the conspiracy to stir communal sentiments in Muzaffarnagar. Sources in Muzaffarnagar said this was a major reason behind the NSA proceedings being dropped against Som by the NSA Advisory Board. The board had declined to approve of the NSA against Som reportedly on the basis of insufficient grounds. Muzaffarnagar police had claimed that the riots were a result of a fake video uploaded by Som, who is MLA from Sardhana in Meerut, on his Facebook account. The Samajwadi Party government claims that it is committed to help riot victims get justice. But is this the way they want to do it? questioned Shahnawaz Alam of Rihai Mach, an NGO working for the rights of the riot victims. The Muzaffarnagar police and the state home department have done their bit, but the government has not, he said. timesofindia.indiatimes/india/UP-govt-yet-to-act-on-letter-that-can-nail-rioters/articleshow/25608372.cms
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:19:33 +0000
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