Make no arrests without proper probe: Akhilesh

In an apparent bid to prevent more panchayats in Jat-dominated villages in western region to protest alleged fake arrests, Uttar Pradesh government has decided not to make any arrests in connection with the recent communal violence at Muzaffarnagar and in some adjoining districts without proper investigation.

Going a step further to pacify the protesters, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has asked officials to make sure that no one is falsely implicated in cases pertaining to the communal
riots that left at least 50 people dead and over 100 injured.

The officers have also been told to strike out the names of the people from the FIR if it was found during the investigation that they had been wrongly implicated, sources here said.

“It seems that the names of the youths, who were not even present at their villages during the violence and were studying elsewhere, have also been named in the FIRs lodged by the rivals in a bid to settle personal scores. These names will be struck off,” said a senior police officer here.

Pacifying protesters

The decision is being seen as a desperate bid to prevent more panchayats in the region and pacify the protesters.

“There is resentment among the people in the Jat-dominated villages over indiscriminate arrests,” the officer admitted.

The government was perturbed over announcement that more panchayats will be organised in the communally sensitive region in the days to come to register protest against false arrests.

Government surprised

The protests by the women from hundreds of villages in Muzaffarnagar and neighbouring districts have taken the government by surprise.

In some cases the women even blocked the entry of the police in the villages to make the arrests.

Panchayat turned violent

The panchayat, that turned violent in Meerut on Sunday, too had been convened by the women of Kheda village though later the men were also allowed to take part in it.
There have been several all-women panchayats after the Muzaffarnagar communal violence.

At least five separate panchayats of women were held at different villages in the district in the past few days in which the participants burnt effigies of senior minister Azam Khan.
They also decided to offer themselves for arrest if the police entered their villages to apprehend men charged with fomenting violence.