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Tag: acquittals

  • Naroda Gam massacre: SIT to challenge recent acquittals

    Naroda Gam massacre: SIT to challenge recent acquittals

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    Ahmedabad: The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) will challenge before the Gujarat High Court the recent acquittal of all 67 accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case by a special court, sources said.

    Ahmedabad-based court of S K Baxi, special judge for Special Investigation Team cases, on April 20 acquitted all 67 accused, including former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, more than two decades after 11 Muslims were killed during post-Godhra riots in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Gam area.

    “The SIT will definitely file an appeal in the Gujarat High Court against the lower court’s order in the Naroda Gam case. Since the copy of the SIT court’s judgement is awaited, a final call will be taken after studying the verdict,” a source in SIT said.

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    The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by the SC-appointed SIT and heard by special courts.

    The SIT took over the probe from the Gujarat Police in 2008 and arrested more than 30 persons.

    Apart from Kodnani (67) and Bajrangi, former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel was also acquitted in the case by the special court.

    There were a total of 86 accused in the case, of which 18 died during the pendency of the trial, while one was discharged by the court earlier under section 169 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) due to insufficient evidence against him.

    Notably, lawyers of the victims’ families had already said the special court’s verdict will be challenged in the High Court.

    Riots broke out in the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, during a bandh called to protest the torching of the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express by a mob near Godhra station a day earlier. As many as 58 train passengers, mostly karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, were charred to death.

    The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots), among others

    The then-BJP president Amit Shah, now Union Home Minister, had in September 2017 appeared in the trial court as a defence witness for Kodnani. She had requested the court to summon Shah to prove her alibi that she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and later at Ahmedabad’s Sola Civil Hospital, and not at Naroda Gam, where the massacre took place.

    Six different judges have presided over the case since the trial started in 2010.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • ‘Shoddy’ probe by UP police reason for acquittals in Hathras case: Cong

    ‘Shoddy’ probe by UP police reason for acquittals in Hathras case: Cong

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    New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday attacked the BJP over the acquittal of three persons accused in the Hathras rape-murder case and alleged that it has exposed the “weak and shoddy” investigation done by the Uttar Pradesh Police and later by the CBI.

    A special court in Hathras on Thursday last sentenced the main accused in the 2020 Hathras rape-murder case to life imprisonment, while acquitting the three other accused.

    Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress leader Dolly Sharma said the heinous crime in Hathras and then the government’s role in this matter has exposed the BJP’s “Beti Bachao” slogan.

    “The crime of depriving the minor girl of the Dalit community of justice has been committed by the BJP, which keeps on giving the slogan of supporting everyone,” she said.

    The court finding one accused guilty and acquitting the other three has again “exposed the weak and shoddy investigation” done by the Uttar Pradesh Police and later by the CBI in this case, Sharma said.

    “In this matter, voice was continuously raised by the Congress party and our leader Rahul Gandhi and the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, constantly demanded justice for the victim’s family,” she said.

    The most unfortunate thing is that the minor daughter of a Dalit family was brutally gang-raped and murdered and only because of the “shoddy” investigation by the police, the prosecution could not even prove the charge of rape in the court, Sharma said.

    The rape and murder charges could not be proved against the prime accused. The court held Sandeep (20) guilty under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, a lesser charge than section 302 (murder).

    Ravi (35), Luv Kush (23) and Ramu (26) were acquitted in the case that triggered outrage and put Yogi Adityanath’s BJP government in the dock over law and order in the state.

    The court also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 against Sandeep.

    Sharma alleged that as soon as the matter came to light, the government machinery was busy giving it the form of a “conspiracy” to save the accused and suppress the matter.

    “The acquittal of three out of four accused once again proves our allegation that the police and the administration acted with serious negligence in the initial investigation, witnesses and evidence was tampered with, pressure was created in every way and a weak prosecution was presented before the Court which benefited the accused and denied justice to the victim,” she alleged.

    Sharma also cited other cases in which BJP leaders were allegedly involved in atrocities against women such as the Unnao rape case in 2017, Ankita Bhandari case in Uttarakhand and the release of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case under the BJP government in Gujarat.

    “It is noteworthy that in spite of all these barbaric incidents that took place in the last nine years, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi did not say a word. What does this silence represent?” she said.

    (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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    #Shoddy #probe #police #reason #acquittals #Hathras #case #Cong

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )