UP govt withdrew 77 cases related to Muzaffarnagar riots, including those against BJP, Right-wing leaders

The Supreme Court was told that the Uttar Pradesh government withdrew 77 Muzaffarnagar riots cases “without giving any reasons”, The Wire reported.

Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria told a bench of CJI NV Ramana and Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant that in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, 510 cases were registered against 6,869 accused in five districts of Meerut. However, a chargesheet was filed in oly 175 cases, only 165 final reports were submitted and 170 cases were expunged, according to The Wire.

Under CrPC section 321, the UP government has withdrawn 77 of these cases after full consideration by the administration. Some of these cases are for life sentences. Out of these 77 cases, some cases were against BJP MLAs Sangeet Som, Suresh Rana, Kapil Dev and right-wing leader Sadhvi Prachi.

Hansaria said that these must be examined under CrPC section 401- revisional jurisdiction.

Hansaria noted that the Karnataka govt had also withdrawn 62 cases, Tamil Nadu- four cases, Telangana- 14 cases and Kerala- 36 cases without stating any reason. He noted that this was a repeated misuse of power for political reasons, and the court should issue some directions, and the cases withdrawn after Sept 16, 2020 should be examined.

The advocate noted that the Supreme Court had ruled that a case against an MP/MLA cannot be withdrawn without the High Court’s permission. The Wire reported that the Supreme Court had “expressed strong displeasure over the non-filing of requisite status reports by the Centre and its agencies” and added that “it would set up a special bench to monitor criminal cases against politicians”.

The SC had also ordered that the judges presiding over such cases cannot be transferred.