A mob went on rampage on December 3 after a cow carcass was allegedly found in a sugarcane field near Mahav vi... Read More

MEERUT: A local court on Tuesday granted bail to seven men who were booked under stringent sedition charges for their alleged involvement in violence in Bulandshahr ’s Chingrawati area on December 3, in which inspector Subodh Kumar and a local youth were killed.

In all, the sedition charges were slapped against 44 people. On Tuesday, the chief judicial magistrate gave bail to seven of them, including Jeetu Fauji, Kalua, Sachin Kumar, Hemu, Rohit Raghav and others.

A mob went on rampage on December 3 after a cow carcass was allegedly found in a sugarcane field near Mahav village of Siyana in Bulandshahr. Inspector Singh, who was posted at Siyana police station, was killed in the attack. A youth, Sumit Kumar, also lost his life during the violence. Chingrawati police picket was also set on fire. Soon after the violence, police booked 27 named and more than 60 unnamed in the violence under more than a dozen IPC sections including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 395 (dacoity), 333 (grievous hurt to public servant), 124A (sedition), etc.

According to Sanjay Sharma, a lawyer who is fighting the case for Jeetu Fauji and others, “The court had granted bail in all other sections, including murder and attempt to murder to the seven out of 44 accused in June. But, after the UP government’s sanction to slap sedition charges under IPC section 124 (A), their release from the jail was halted. But, on Tuesday, the court gave bail in sedition case also.”

The accused facing sedition charges also include Bajrang Dal local convenor Yogesh Raj and BJP youth wing leader Shikhar Agarwal. They were accused of instigating crowds. Yogesh was arrested on January 3 while Agarwal was nabbed from Hapur on January 10.

On March 6, when local police filed a charge-sheet in the case, while mentioning the sedition charges, the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) court pulled up investigation officer asking, “Why sedition charges were applied without the approval by the state government?”

Later, in the last week of June, UP government granted the sanction. And on June 28, the then circle officer Khurja and investigation officer in the case Raghvendra Mishra deposited the letter of sanction in the court.

