(Source: Express file photo) (Source: Express file photo) A Mathura court has acquitted eight accused in the 2016 Jawahar Bagh violence case owing to a lack of evidence and key witnesses turning hostile. The accused were among those who had encroached upon Mathura’s Jawahar Bagh park, built on government land, and had later clashed with police, killing an additional SP and a sub-inspector on the spot on June 2, 2016. Twenty-seven more people had died in the clash, which had taken place when the Mathura police had tried to evict the illegal occupants. The occupants, led by their leader Ram Vriksha Yadav, had claimed to be members of the Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, an outfit claiming allegiance to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The state government had granted permission to Yadav’s organisation to hold a demonstration inside Jawahar Bagh for two days in January 2014. But the group then occupied the sprawling public park for over two years. The squatters were evicted amid violence following a high court order. A huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives were recovered from the huts erected inside the park during the illegal occupation. On a high court directive, the CBI has been investigating the incident, but is yet to file a chargesheet in the case. Prosecuting officer, Mathura, S P Singh said, “Eight accused who have been acquitted were chargesheeted in two separate cases lodged by government employees for thrashing them. The additional chief judicial magistrate on Monday acquitted all eight persons in both cases after all prosecution witnesses, including the complainant, denied having seen these persons at the spot. A few other prosecution witnesses were also declared hostile by the court.” Singh further said that the eight persons were not named in both FIRs, and that their roles had come to light during police investigation, after which they were chargesheeted. “This is the first judgment in a total of 62 cases lodged in connection with the Jawahar Bagh matter. These eight acquitted persons face other cases too and will remain in jail to face trial in other cases,” said Singh. Defence Counsel Laxmi Kant Gautam said, “The first case was filed by horticulture department employee Devi Singh. Another case was filed by revenue department officer Chandra Mohan Meena. A total of 10 prosecution witnesses were examined by the court in both the cases. No defence witness was produced.” According to the prosecution, Devi Singh had got an FIR registered against two named persons, including cult leader Ram Vriksh Yadav and several unidentified persons, for forcibly entering his house at Jawahar Bagh and thrashing him on March 16, 2016. “Devi Singh was a witness in a few other cases lodged against the people then staying illegally at Jawahar Bagh. Devi Singh claims the accused did not want him to give a statement against them, and when he denied, they attacked him,” said prosecuting officer. The police investigated and filed a chargesheet against eight persons whose names came up during investigation. The investigation against Ram Vriksh Yadav is still pending. The second case was filed by revenue officer Chandra Mohan Meena, who stated that a group of unidentified persons reached his office at Sadar Tehsil and thrashed him for preparing a report on Jawahar Bagh on April 4, 2016. The FIR was lodged against unidentified persons and the police chargesheeted the same eight persons in this case as well. An FIR was lodged on various charges including assault and rioting. For all the latest Lucknow News, download Indian Express App

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