Lucknow: In the first conviction in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots-related cases, a local court Friday sentenced seven persons to life imprisonment for the murder of two Hindu brothers.
The case is believed to have triggered the violence, due to which over 500 FIRs were filed under charges of murder, rape, dacoity and rioting in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli.
The court convicted seven persons — Mujasim, Muzamil, Jahangir, Nadeem, Furqan, Afzal and Iqbal — for the murder of Sachin and Gaurav on 27 August 2013 in Kawal village, said Anjum Khan, the government counsel.
While the first five were named in the FIR, Afzal and Iqbal were booked during an SIT probe.
A penalty of Rs 2 lakh each has been imposed on the seven convicted, added Khan.
The court order comes at a time when the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has moved to withdraw 32 cases relating to the 2013 riots.
Also read: 5 years on, SIT awaits UP govt’s nod to prosecute 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots accused
The case
Nearly six years ago, three murders on 27 August 2013 led to widespread violence in the western UP districts of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli.
The communal violence that spread through the villages of these districts left at least 60 people dead, around 100 injured and many families displaced.
While several narratives have emerged as the cause of the riots — from a Hindu woman being allegedly harassed to a collision of motorcycles — three murders that afternoon became a watershed in the Jat-Muslim conflict in the sugarcane districts of the state.
According to defence counsel Nasir Ali, a young Muslim man called Shahnawaz was “allegedly lynched by the two brothers — Sachin and Gaurav — for harassing their sister”. In the clash that ensued near Kawal village, the two brothers were also killed.
Two FIRs in the murders were lodged in Muzaffarnagar, and while the court found seven Muslim men guilty of the double murder, Shahnawaz’s family continues to wait for justice.
The seven men convicted Friday include two brothers of Shahnawaz — Nadeem and Jahangir — said the counsels.
Also read: Muzaffarnagar riots accused found dead, son alleges murder
Shahnawaz case
The defence and government counsels said the SIT probe had “filed a closure report” in Shahnawaz’s murder case due to “lack of evidence” against five accused.
“However, the case was reopened in the local court after Shahnawaz’s family filed a private petition and some accused were summoned. The accused in Shahnawaz’s murder include Sachin, Gaurav and Gaurav’s father Ravindra. Ravindra is also the complainant in the Sachin-Gaurav murder case,” said Ali.
He added that despite court summons, failed pleas in the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court and subsequent warrants, the accused are still absconding.
“A warrant has also been issued against Gaurav’s father Ravindra.”
Shahnawaz was the first one among the three to be killed but his murderers are yet to be arrested, said Ali.
Khan said the Shahnawaz case is still pending in the local court.