Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government has said that the BJP leaders accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 were essentially “victims of a political vendetta”.
“There is a difference between withdrawing cases against politicians and those filed because of political reasons. We are in the process of examining all such cases,” UP minister for law Brijesh Pathak told reporters here on Wednesday. He said this in reference to the state government’s decision to withdraw cases against BJP leaders.
It may be recalled that recently chief minister Yogi Adityanath had a meeting with BJP leaders accused of involvement in the Muzaffarnagar riots, including former cabinet minister and MP Sanjeev Baliyan, MLA Sangeet Som and MP Bhartendu Singh.
According to sources, these leaders, during the meeting, had reportedly requested the chief minister to expedite the process of withdrawal of the riot cases.
Earlier, the law department had sent a letter to the district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar in January, seeking opinion on around 10 riot-related cases registered in 2013 against the BJP leaders.
Most of these leaders were booked under serious Sections of the IPC, including 128, 153A and 353. The cases are already in the trial stage and pending in the concerned courts.
The riots in 2013 had left 63 dead and rendered around 50,000 homeless.
The then BJP MLAs Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana were even booked under the NSA.
