Sahay commission holds police officers responsible for Muzaffarnagar riots
Lucknow: The Justice Vishnu Sahay Commission that probed the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 has held then SSP Subhash Chandra Dubey and a local intelligence inspector, Prabal Pratap Singh, directly responsible for the riots.The commission has also blamed intelligence failure in the riots.
The Sahay report, that runs into 700 pages, has given a clean chit to the Akhilesh Yadav government and has only blamed the local administration for “misjudging and mishandling” the situation that led to the riots. The report also said that transfers of officials during riots led to worsening of the situation.
No action can be taken on MLA, says report
The report was tabled in the UP Assembly on Sunday. The report, interestingly, said that no further action can be taken against BJP MLA Sangeet Som, who had allegedly uploaded a fake video, since his role is already being investigated by the police.
“No further action by the government can be initiated against him,” the report said. Mr Som is an accused in two cases related to the riots and is currently out on bail.The report also said that as far as the mahapanchayat of August 30, 2013 is concerned, a case against politicians Qadir Rana, Noor Salim Rana, Rashid Siddiqui, Ehsan Qureshi and others has been already registered and hence no further action can be taken.
The report further said that no one could be directly held responsible for the hate speeches.It may be recalled that all along, the hate speeches at the mahapanchayat by Hindus and Muslims had been blamed for triggering the riots.
Describing the sequence of events leading to the riots, the report also brought under the scanner the role of then district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma and has said that an explanation on certain points must be sought from him.
The report was tabled in the state Assembly almost six months after it was submitted to governor Ram Naik. The BJP has already rejected the report, saying that its findings were politically motivated.
The Justice Sahay Commission was formed by the Akhilesh government on September 9, 2013 to look into administrative lapses in controlling the riots and the role played by the media as well as politicians in flaring up the riots.
