Despite the Uttar Pradesh government seeking closure of 74 cases relating to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, it has failed to get courts' permission to withdraw even a single case, a senior official said Wednesday.
"The state government has issued 10 different notifications in over the last six months to withdraw a total of 74 riot cases," Additional District Magistrate Amit Kumar Singh told PTI.
"The government, however, is yet to get permission to withdraw even a single case," he added.
The district administration had got the government's last directive to withdraw 20 cases some two months ago, but all requests are pending consideration of the court.
In some cases, the Prosecution Department has failed to
even move the court to seek permission due to a judicial vacancy in the relevant court.
All the state government's directives were forwarded to the Prosecution Department for the necessary follow-up and to move relevant courts to seek withdrawal of cases, said Singh.
"But the prosecution has not yet got the court's permission to withdraw even a single case," the ADM added.
Asked about the status of prosecution's applications to withdraw cases from courts, district government counsel Dushyant Tyagi said for the last 20 cases, the prosecution has not yet moved the court for their withdrawal as presently there is no judge in the relevant court.
"There is a vacancy in the court since February this year, due to which we have not been able to file even the application to seek withdrawal of some cases," said Tyagi.
In other cases, various courts have denied permission to withdraw them, he added.
The state government had sought the district administration's recommendations in over 100 riot cases.
Following district administration's recommendations, the government so far has asked it to withdraw 74 cases, said officials.
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