Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh: A special MP-MLA court has allowed the prosecution to withdraw a case against 25 BJP leaders and Hindu activists in connection with a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots-related case.
The accused include Uttar Pradesh minister Kapil Dev Agarwal, former Union minister Sanjeev Balyan and former state minister Suresh Rana.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate/MP-MLA court judge Devendra Kumar Faujdar allowed the prosecution's application seeking withdrawal of the case on Wednesday, prosecution officer Rahul Singh said.
The accused were facing trial over alleged violations of prohibitory orders, obstruction of public servants in the discharge of their duties and speeches allegedly aimed at inciting communal tension during a mahapanchayat at Nagla Mador in the district on 31 July 2013, Singh told PTI.
The accused included Agarwal, Balyan and Rana, as well as former Uttar Pradesh minister Ashok Kataria, former BJP MPs Bhartendu Singh and Sohanvir Singh, former BJP MLAs Ashok Kansal and Umesh Malik, VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi and Narsinghanand of Dasna Shiv Temple, among others.
The prosecution filed the application after the Uttar Pradesh government decided to withdraw the case, Singh said.
The court's order allows the prosecution to proceed with the withdrawal of the case against the accused.
The 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots and subsequent violence in neighbouring districts left more than 60 people dead and displaced over 40,000 people, according to official figures.