In a letter dated January 5, the UP government's law officers have sought the opinion of the District Magistrate, Senior Superintendent of Police of Muzaffarnagar in 2013 and the public prosecutor handling the riots cases about the possibility of withdrawing ongoing criminal cases against the Member of Parliament from Muzaffarnagar Sanjeev Baliyan , BJP lawmaker Umesh Malik and Minister in Adityanath's cabinet Suresh Rana , among others.
In January, the Governor of UP, Ram Naik approved a bill, seeking to drop 20,000 "politically motivated" cases filed across the state. The letter seeking "frank opinion" of officials on whether the cases can be ended was sent just days before Mr Ram Naik gave his assent to the bill. The letter does not name the BJP leaders accused in the riots but mentions the file numbers of their cases.
A senior government officer in Muzaffarnagar, Siyaram Mohre, told NDTV that "We have received a letter seeking information about nine cases. We have not received the information yet form the relevant officers but as soon as we get it, we will send it to the ministry in Lucknow". One of the cases has Umesh Malik as the main accused, confirmed Mr Mohre.
In the state capital Lucknow, senior government officials refused to comment on the letter. Home Secretary of UP and in-charge of state police, Arvind Kumar, said there is nothing unusual about the letter; it is a routine procedure. "If someone feels that a particular case against him is fake and it should be withdrawn, his application is forwarded by the state government to the district administration and a reply is sought," Mr Kumar said. He stressed, "after a very strict procedure, the government may think a case is fit to be withdrawn but finally it's the court's call".
Cases against Sanjiv Baliyan, Suresh Rana, Umesh Malik had been filed by the UP police during Akhilesh Yadav's tenure as Chief Minister under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for violating prohibitory orders and stopping public servants from doing their duties.
Comments
One of the accused, Umesh Malik, sitting BJP lawmaker from Muzaffarnagar, has confirmed that he had written to the UP government claiming that the cases against him and other BJP leaders are politically motivated. "The police had filed false cases against innocent people. I had written to the government asking for an enquiry into these cases and if found fake, they should be scrapped ", said Mr Malik. Another accused, Sanjeev Baliyan, representing Muzaffarnagar in Lok Sabha, said , "If cases are withdrawn, first it will be against the hundreds of ordinary and innocent people framed by the police in 2013, this I can assure you."
