Muslim man who was not in Kasganj during violence slapped with rioting & sedition charges

File photo of deployment of the police at Kasganj | YouTube screengrab

Minorities commission chief writes to UP CM Yogi urging him to re-examine the case of Zahid Ilias Jagga, who is named in an FIR with serious charges.

New Delhi: Zahid Ilias Jagga, a Muslim resident of Kasganj, has been slapped with a number of serious charges, including attempt to murder, rioting, and sedition, in connection with the recent communal clashes in the Uttar Pradesh city. However, his wife Tarannum says Jagga was not in Kasganj when the violence broke out, submitting proof to the National Commission for Minorities.

Taking cognisance of the matter, commission chairperson Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi has written to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, urging him to re-examine Jagga’s case. In a letter, dated 16 February, Rizvi has requested that Jagga’s name be removed from the list of suspects, as on the day of the violence, 26 January, he was in Lucknow, accompanying his friend Manoj Maheshwari, who had gone to get his impounded car released.

The duo left for Lucknow on 25 January, arriving in the state capital in the afternoon, and returned to Kasganj late in the evening on the 26th, hours after the violence had taken place. Tarannum has, in fact, submitted CCTV footage of the police station they visited, toll booths they crossed, and the hotels and restaurants they visited, and even the receipts of the toll they paid (with timestamps) to prove that Jagga was not in Kasganj at the time the violence broke out.

Tarannum also told the Commission Thursday that the family was being routinely harassed by the police, since her husband was absconding in the aftermath of the false cases slapped on him. In the FIR, Jagga has been charged with rioting, unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint, endangering life or personal safety of others, attempt to murder, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, criminal intimidation, and sedition.

Yogi has assured against discrimination

Rizvi had earlier written to the state government in Uttar Pradesh seeking a report on the violence in Kasganj. While the report has now been filed by the state secretary, Rizvi says the number of arrests are not mentioned in the report, even though he had highlighted the issue of overwhelming number of arrests being those of Muslims to the Chief Minister.

Rizvi further added that he met Adityanath on 11 February, and told him he had received a number of complaints regarding Muslims being unduly arrested in the aftermath of the violence. The CM assured him that there would not be any arrests on the basis of religion, and if any innocent was arrested, he would be let off, Rizvi said.