UP riots: HC rejects petition seeking stay on arrest

The Allahabad High Court today refused to stay the arrest of a person who has been booked in connection with Muzaffarnagar riots.
A Division Bench, comprising Justices Surendra Singh and Bachchoo Lal, refused to stay the arrest of an advocate Asad Zama.
Disposing of Zama's petition, the court said that it did not wish to "interfere in the matter at this stage".
The petitioner has been named in an FIR dated August 31, 2013, lodged at Kotwali Nagar police station of Muzaffarnagar.
He has been named as an accused alongside BSP MP Kadir Rana, MLAs Noor Salim Rana and Maulana Jamil Ahmed and more than a hundred other people.

All the accused have been booked for holding a public meeting in violation of prohibitory orders and allegedly blocking road traffic and giving speeches which whipped up communal tension in the area.
However, the court said if the petitioner is arrested and applies for bail, "his application shall be decided expeditiously".