New Delhi: A local court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case till August 22 after Union minister Sanjeev Balyan and BJP MLA Sangeet Som failed to appear.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Jitender Singh allowed exemption of personnel appearance of the accused for Wednesday after their lawyer pleaded for the same. Apart from Balyan and Som, BJP MP Bhartendra Singh, party MLA from Thana Bhawan Suresh Rana, Sadhvi Prachi and others are facing charges under various sections of IPC for violating prohibitory orders, deterring public servants from discharging their duties and wrongful restraint.
The accused allegedly participated in a mahapanchayat at Nagla Mador village in Muzaffarnagar and incited violence in the area through their speeches, leading to the riots in August-September in 2013 which claimed over 60 lives and displaced more than 40,000 people.