In 2014, the BJP had called for a protest against the administration for taking down loudspeakers from a temple in Kanth police station area of Moradabad district. Now a special court has acquitted all 74 accused, including cabinet minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and local BJP MLA Ritesh Kumar Gupta, accused of attacking policemen during the protest.
Moradabad: A special court in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh has acquitted all 74 accused, including state cabinet minister Bhupendra Singh Choudhary and a local MLA Ritesh Kumar Gupta, of assaulting policemen during a demonstration in 2014.
There was a dispute between two communities over playing loudspeaker in a temple in Akbarpur Chendari of Kanth police station area, after which the police had removed the loudspeaker from the temple with the consent of both the parties.
The then opposition BJP had called for a protest against the Moradabad administration for taking down the loudspeaker.
MLA-MP court’s Additional District and Sessions Judge Puneet Kumar Gupta acquitted all the accused out on bail due to lack of evidence.
Additional District Public Prosecutor (ADGC) Manish Bhatnagar said the prosecution would approach the higher court, if necessary, after going through the court’s order.
In June 2014, police took down a loudspeaker from a temple in the Muslim-dominated Akbarpur village of Kanth area. Against this, on July 4, 2014, the BJP had called a Mahapanchayat. However, the state government had banned it. It was during this time that this incident happened.
To disperse the crowd, the police resorted to lathi-charge and opened fire in the air after which the clashes started. The then District Magistrate had suffered serious head injuries in stone pelting allegedly by BJP workers.
However, the police was successful in clearing the crowd from the railway tracks, where hundreds of people blocked the way for hours, affecting train service.
During the trial, the prosecution produced 24 witnesses, including the then District Magistrate, before the special court but could not prove the guilt of the accused.
When the BJP government was formed in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary was made a cabinet minister.
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