A sessions court in Bijnor has torn into police claims, saying they produced no evidence to show that the accused indulged in firing and arson.
Uttar Pradesh| Two persons, accused of rioting and attempt to murder during the anti-CAA protests last month, have been granted bail by a sessions court in Bijnor. The court has busted the police claims, saying they produced no evidence to show that the accused indulged in firing and arson, that weapons were seized from the accused, or that police personnel sustained any bullet injury.
The Indian Express accessed court records wherein Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Pandey, in the bail order on January 24, pointed out these glaring discrepancies in the police version. “Without making any observation on the merits of the case, in my view, looking at the circumstances and the natures of offences, bail has to be granted to the accused,” he said.
The court noted that only one of the accused persons namely Imran was named in the FIR and had been arrested from the spot. No other accused were named in FIR or arrested from the spot.
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The Bijnor police had arrested more than 100 people and lodged multiple FIRs, claiming that they were involved in damaging public property, injuring policemen and violence in Nahtaur, Najibabad and Nagina in Bijnor.
According to Indian Express, “Police also admitted that a 20-year-old, Mohammad Suleman, died after he was shot by a constable, Mohit Kumar, in “self-defence”. The family has filed an FIR against six police personnel.
In the hearing, the prosecution claimed that it used “minimum force” to put down the protests on December 20.
“According to the prosecution itself, no police officer has received any bullet injury. It has shown that police officials have received injuries due to stone-pelting. However, no evidence has been produced that proves that anyone received serious injuries,” the sessions court said.
On December 28, an FIR was lodged against six police personnel, including the then Station House Officer of Nahtaur police station, Rajesh Singh Solanki, over the death of Mohammad Suleman. It was filed following police admission that Suleman died after he was shot by police in “self-defence”.
No weapon was found on Suleman. According to his family, Suleman, a final-year undergraduate student who was staying with his maternal uncle in Noida and was preparing for the UPSC exams, had come to Nahtaur since he had a fever. They said that he was returning from a mosque after offering namaz when he was held by police, taken to a lane near a madrasa and shot.
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