High Court allows withdrawal of PIL petition seeking independent probe in alleged Sambhal violence:
By
Rajesh Pandey
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday allowed the withdrawal of a PIL petition seeking an independent probe into the alleged incidents of police atrocity during the Sambhal violence.
A division bench comprising of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Gautam Chowdhary allowed the withdrawal of the PIL petition filed by the Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), noting that the state government has already formed a judicial inquiry commission to probe into the incident of violence.
The court was also informed that all the prayers in the PIL petition fall within the scope of the inquiry commission formed by the Uttar Pradesh government. Given this, the court permitted the petitioner to withdraw the plea with the liberty to approach the court at an appropriate stage.
The UP government constituted a three-member judicial commission comprising retired Allahabad High Court judge Devendra Kumar Arora, retired IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad, and retired IPS officer Arvind Kumar Jain last month. Violence erupted in Sambhal district on November 24 after a team led by an advocate commissioner surveyed the Mughal-era Jama Mosque on the orders of a local court.
The violence, where protesters opposing the survey of the Jama Masjid clashed with security personnel, resulted in the deaths of four persons. As per the media reports, the protesters torched vehicles and pelted the police with stones while the security personnel used tear gas and batons to disperse the mob.
Subsequently, thereafter, the Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) moved the instant PIL petition to question the Uttar Pradesh Police’s alleged action of opening fire against the public in Sambhal.
The PIL alleged that both the police and the state have failed to prevent the violence and there are allegations of complicity through their participation and the adoption of illegal and inadequate measures during the incident.
The petitioner also highlighted that prima facie, most of the victims of the violence were Muslims, and those arrested in connection with the violence were also predominantly Muslims.
The PIL filed through advocate Pawan Kumar Yadav alleged that the police are engaging in arbitrary mass arrests, detentions, and excessive use of force including indiscriminate firing, which has forced individuals, mainly from one community, to flee the area in fear of illegal prosecution.
