Muzaffarnagar:
A special court could not frame charges against 10 accused, including several former lawmakers, in a hate speech case related to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots as they failed to appear before the court today.
Charges could not be framed against several leaders including former MP Kadir Rana, former UP minister S Saiduzzama and former MLAs Maulana Jameel and Noor Saleem.
Special Judge Gopal Upadhyaye has now fixed September 1 for framing charges against the 10 accused.
They are facing trial for violating prohibitory orders and inciting communal tension following their speeches in Muzaffarnagar’s Khalapar locality on August 30, 2013.
Kadir Rana had left the Samajwadi Party in 2007 to join the Rashtriya Lok Dal and then switched to the BSP in 2009.
Communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in August and September 2013 had killed 60 people and displaced over 40,000.
The state government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the riot cases. The SIT has filed charge sheets in 175 cases.
The police had registered cases against 6,869 people and arrested 1,480 people in connection with the riots.
This story first appeared on ndtv.com