Muzaffarnagar riot’s accused Minister vows to withdraw cases

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Call it a Yogi effect but, only a one week in to the office, the Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to withdraw cases relating Muzaffarnagar riot.

The country know well enough about minister Suresh Singh Rana’s roles in inciting the 2013 communal carnage in Muzaffarnagar said that the Adityanath government will be withdrawing cases against “innocent people” in connection with the 2013 violence with the riot in the district and its neighbouring places.

BJP has fielded several leaders who were accused of instigating violence in 2013. Many of them including the controversial Sangeet Som has won the election.

Rana himself had been arrested for allegedly making provocative speeches in the 2013 riots and had been booked under the National Security Act.

At least 62 people were killed and over tens of thousands of Muslims displaced in the communal clashes broke out in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts in 2013.

He also said the government would ensure improvement in the law and order situation in the state to prevent a “repeat” of the alleged Kairana mass exodus in other towns in western Uttar Pradesh.

The state minister for cane development and sugar mills was visiting Shamli district yesterday when he made the comments.

The alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana made headlines last year when local BJP MP Hukum Singh released a list of more than 300 Hindu families who had purportedly fled the town over alleged threats and extortion by criminal elements belonging to a particular community.

The minister also said the state government is trying to ensure that sugar mills clear their dues to farmers as soon as possible.

The mills have been instructed to clear the existing outstanding amount within 120 days and new dues in 14 days, he said.

With agencies inputs