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A local court has acquitted 13 people, accused of killing three members of a family in Shamli district, after riots erupted in Muzaffarngar and the adjoining districts in 2013. Another two accused in the case had died in jail in 2014. This is the sixth such case related to Muzaffarnagar riots that has ended in acquittal.
Abdul Waheed (50), his wife Raeesa (46) and their son Tahir (20) were killed at Laak village in Muzaffarnagar’s Fugana area (now in Shamli district). Two key witnesses in the case — brothers of Abdul Waheed — had turned hostile in court and did not support the prosecution’s claims.
“Additional District and Session Judge Himanshu Bhatnagar on Wednesday acquitted 13 accused. During trial, eyewitnesses Iqbal and Kasim, brothers of Abdul Waheed, had turned hostile. They told the court that they had left the village a day before the murders took place,” said government counsel Naseem Ahmed.
“The complainant of the case, Akhtar, another son of Abdul Waheed, had died before the trial began… Of the total 13 accused in the case, 11 were out on bail,” Muzaffarnagar district government counsel Dushyant Tyagi said. He added that after going through the judgment, they will decide on filing an appeal. The prosecution has alleged that the three were killed on September 8, 2013 when a mob had attacked Waheed’s house. While Waheed and Raeesa were set on fire, Tahir was killed by sharp-edged weapons. Waheed’s brothers Iqbal and Kasim had then claimed to have witnessed the incident, said Naseem Ahmed.
Following the murders, Akhtar had got a case lodged against 25 named and 60 unidentified accused. The Special Investigation Team had arrested 15 of them. In 2014, two of the accused — Ranveer and Iqbal Ghoda — died in jail following illness, said Dushant Tyagi.
Earlier, five cases related to the riots had ended in acquittal — four by courts in Muzaffarnagar and one by a local court in Baghpat.