By Abdul Alim Jafri / News Click
Lucknow: The Kanpur Police’s act of “hasty and indiscriminate arrest” after registration of an FIR for violence during a protest on June 3 against the remarks made against Prophet Muhammad by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons, has come under the scanner as the police has failed to produce any evidence against six of those arrested.
Last Friday, the officials concerned also took legal opinion from the public prosecutors on how to file the report. Now, after submission of a police report, the court will consider it and give its decision.
The families of the six persons had submitted CCTV footage and other evidence to the police that showed that the accused were not present at the site of violence on June 3. Following which, the police moved to file an application under Section 169 of the code of criminal procedure CrPC (that seeks release of the accused when evidence is deficient) in the local court, saying they have no evidence against the six persons, said sources.
As per reports, they (police) will soon file a closure report under Section 169 as no evidence or reasonable grounds for suspicion are found to connect the accused to the alleged crime. And if the accused is in custody, s/he shall be released on certain conditions, like executing a bond, providing a surety, appearing before the magistrate if called, etc., after filing of the report.
Meanwhile, personal intervention by Police Commissioner (Kanpur) Vijay Singh Meena and Joint Police Commissioner Anand Prakash Tiwari has led to the release of six persons who were wrongly arrested in the case. A committee was constituted on June 6, three days after the incident and since then the committee held five meetings till July 28 to understand the role of all the accused sent to the jail.
In the evidence and facts that came before the police in the meeting of the screening committee, six people sent to the jail were falsely implicated, as per reports. Following which, the police have initiated the process of getting them out of jail.
“My brother was not present where the violence took place. He went to offer Friday prayer to a mosque near our home and came back immediately. To prove my claim, I submitted footage of CCTV cameras installed at places where he was present when the protests took place,” a family member of one of the accused told NewsClick on the condition of anonymity.
This story was originally published in newsclick.in . Read the full story here