CM Adityanath was presented with a list of 179 cases last month

In a big move, the Yogi Adityanath government has set the ball rolling on taking back 131 cases allegedly linked to the Muzaffarnagar and Shamli communal riots in Uttar Pradesh in 2013. Of those, 13 cases are for murder and 11 for attempt to murder. The move came after a delegation of Khap leaders from Muzaffarnagar and Shamli met CM Adityanath on February 5. The delegation included BJP MP Sanjiv Balyan and the party’s Budhana MLA Umesh Malik. CM Adityanath was presented with a list of 179 cases, according to The Indian Express.

A political slugfest has erupted after it came to light that the cases being withdrawn contain heinous crimes with a minimum punishment of seven years in jail under Indian Penal Code (IPC). Apart from this, there are 16 cases under section 153 A and two under section 295 A. IPC section 153 A pertains to promoting enmity on religious grounds and section 295 A to deliberate and malicious acts intended to insult a religion or religious beliefs. Balyan said that all the accused were Hindus. MLA Malik, however, claimed that “there are murder cases too on the list”.

Balyan said that during the meeting with the Chief Minister in February, he urged him to consider the withdrawal of 179 cases in which over 850 Hindus were held accused. All these cases were registered in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts. He said that the delegation had been preparing the list for a while and claimed that the cases include those of arson, attempt to murder and damage of properties but not murder, IE reported.

Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh alleged that rioters will set free rioters and claimed BJP gives rewards to rioters. Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ghanshyam Tiwari flayed CM Adityanath saying he is a champion for rioters. Tiwari claimed that the state government has done this to get some electoral verdict in their favour in the future. CPI (M) politburo member Subhashini Ali said that Yogi Adityanath wants to give relief to his MLAs, MPs, leaders who are physically involved in violence during Muzaffarnagar riots.

Meanwhile rejecting all the allegations, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that politically motivated cases should be withdrawn.

In September 2013, 62 persons died and thousands lost their homes in the riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. Subsequently, a total of 503 cases were registered against around 1,455 persons at police stations in above-mentioned districts. Back then, Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party government was in power.