Muzaffarnagar riots: Court accepts closure report of SIT against Sangeet Som

A special court has accepted the closure report filed by an Uttar Pradesh Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) team against BJP MLA Sangeet Som in a case of uploading an inflammatory video on social media ahead of the communal riots here in 2013.

In his order issued on Monday, Special Judge Ram Sudh Singh while accepting the closure report of the SIT said the complainant in the case, inspector Subhodh Kumar, has died and no objection has not been filed against the closure report. Kumar was killed when a mob went on a rampage over allegations of illegal cow slaughter in Bulandshahr in 2018.

According to the prosecution, the SIT had filed a closure report in the court, saying that no evidence could be found against Som, the MLA from Sardhana.

During investigation, the SIT had, through CBI, sought the details of the persons from the Facebook headquarters in the US who had uploaded the video on its social media platform that incited communal passions. But Facebook failed to provide the names of those involved in the act, the prosecution said.

Police had registered a case under sections 420 (cheating), 153a (promoting enmity between groups) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66 of the Information and Technology (IT) Act against Som and about 200 others, who had liked the video, uploaded on Facebook, on September 2, 2013.

The accused persons had been charged for circulating a video about the murder of two youths, triggering communal tension in the district.

During investigation, it was found that the video was old and had either been shot in Afghanistan or Pakistan, the prosecution said.

More than 60 people were killed and 40,000 displaced during the riots in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in 2013.