NEW DELHI: The UP government plans to drop terrorism charges in 'public interest' against 15 under-trials accused of killing 43 people in all.
Three days ago, the Allahabad high court had slammed the UP government for its attempt to withdraw prosecution against a Muslim cleric named Waliullah and his associate Shameem, who were charge-sheeted for the Varanasi blast in 2006 that left 21 people dead.
The trial court's judgment against Waliullah has been reserved and the HC said it should be left to the judiciary to determine if the accused was guilty of terrorism.
However, keen to fulfill its pre-poll promise of withdrawing 'false cases' against Muslims, the UP government plans to drop charges against 13 more terror accused, including four men arrested in 2002, under Pota, for leaking information about troop movement during the Kargil war, five terrorists charge-sheeted for involvement in the attack on the CRPF camp in Rampur in 2008, and four men arrested for being behind the serial blasts in court premises in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi in 2007, as well as a blast in Gorakhpur in 2007.
The UP government has written a 13-point letter to the respective district administrations in whose jurisdiction these people were booked - asking the district magistrate, superintendent of police and government prosecuting officer in each case if the charges can be dropped in 'public interest'.
UP special secretary Rajendra Kumar wrote to the district magistrate of Varanasi on October 31, and to DMs of Barabanki and Rampur on September 3, asking for their opinion on withdrawing the cases.
"Furnish details on the evidence against the accused as per the case diaries and give your opinion on the withdrawal of cases against them," the letter said.
The UP government is backing its step based on a report submitted this September by retired district judge RD Nimesh, regarding the four arrests made for the 2007 court blasts, which killed 14 people.
The Mayawati government had in 2008 initiated a judicial inquiry into arrests of Mohammad Tariq Kajmi of Rani ki Sarai village in Sarai Meer police station area of Azamgarh, Mohammad Khalid Mujahid of Madiyahun area of Jaunpur district from Barabanki and Sajjad and Tariq Hussain, both belonging to J&K.
Mohammad Tariq was also accused of a blast in Gorakhpur in 2007.
The report raised strong doubts on the involvement of the said four men in the court blasts.
Khalid Mujahid's family in fact deposed before the retired judge, giving evidence that he was present in Jamia Tul-Sahait madrasa in Jaunpur district, where he was teacher, on November 23, 2007, as per the attendance register, while police accused him of bombing the Lucknow court premises that day.
Khalid's signatures were also found on notebooks of 50 children studying there.
Then there is the case of four men from Rampur in UP - Javed, Taj Mohammad, Mahsood and Mumtaz Mian - arrested by the UP special task force in 2002 under Pota, for leaking classified military information to Pakistan during the Kargil War.
The police charge sheeted them on February 2, 2003, saying they had sent details by fax to ISI in Pak of Indian Army's movement from Bareilly and Meerut to Kashmir during the war.
Akhilesh Yadav government wants to withdraw charges against 15 terror accused
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Akhilesh Yadav government wants to withdraw charges against 15 terror accused
