Akhlaq case: Former BJP MLA Sangeet Som held guilty for Section 144 breach

NOIDA: A local court has convicted former BJP MLA Sangeet Som for violating prohibitory orders during a gathering at Bisada village in Dadri in the days after the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq. The court fined Som Rs 800 for the offence.
Senior prosecuting officer Chhavi Ranjan Dwivedi said the conviction was in a case filed against Som at Jarcha police station on October 4, 2015 under Section 188 (disobedience of order promulgated by government officials) of the IPC.
At the time, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were in force at Bisada, where Akhlaq was lynched by a mob that broke into his house on September 28 that year, accusing him of storing and consuming beef.
"Som, along with 400-500 people, had gathered in Bisada village and shouted slogans. The case that was registered against him was for violation of prohibitory orders. This wasn't a case of hate speech. It was only about violation of orders to maintain the law and order situation in the village," Dwivedi said.
ADM Chandrashekar and inspector Subodh Singh (who was killed in mob violence in Bulandshahr in 2018) had given statements in the case. "Som was convicted under Section 188 with a fine of Rs 800 on Wednesday by additional chief judicial magistrate (second class) Pradeep Kumar Kushwaha," Premlata, the prosecuting officer, said.
Police had filed the charge sheet against Som, a former MLA from Sardhana, in December 2015. Other persons who violated the prohibitory orders and against whom FIRs were lodged were also named in the charge sheet as the administration took steps to stop rumour-mongering after the lynching.