Akhilesh govt takes credit for ‘withdrawing’ cases closed by Maya

In August 2010,farmers staged a dharna at Zikarpur village against acquisition of land at Tappal in Aligarh district. Residents of five villages,namely Jahangarh,Kansera,Zakarpur,Kripalpur and Tappal,participated in the protest. On August 14,the protest turned violent and four persons,including three locals and a policemen,were killed and several others were injured.

The dead included Mohit Kumar (12),Prashant Sharma (12),Dharmendra Singh (28),all of whom reportedly suffered bullet injuries,and sub-inspector Bijendra Singh of the 38th battalion of PAC,who was lynched by villagers. Mohit and Prashant were school students while Dharmendra was a farmer.

The Aligarh district administration last week received directions from the state government for withdrawal of the last four cases. Prosecuting Officer A K Mishra said they would file withdrawal applications in court soon.

The two cases already closed under the present regime are those of the murder of sub-inspector Bijendra Singh and a case against farmer leader Manveer Singh Teotia and over 2,000 unidentified persons on various charges,including attempt to murder. In the first case,the closure report was filed in May and in the second in April.

The 25 cases in which closure reports were filed during the Mayawati government included those arising from the killing of Mohit Kumar,Prashant Sharma and Dharmendra Singh.

Sub-inspector Bijendra Singh’s son Pratap Singh was unaware that a closure report had been filed. “I have been regularly asking senior officials of the battalion,and they say investigation is on. It is unfortunate that the police have filed a closure report,he was killed in public view. The government is playing politics by giving a clean chit to those who killed him,” said Pratap Singh.

Like him,the families of the other three victims were also unaware of the closure reports.

Prashant Sharma’s father Chandra Pal Sharma said that after the incident,senior police officers had told them that investigation would not be done by the Tappal police to ensure fairness. “It is strange that now they say they have not found any evidence,” he said.

Mohit Kumar’s father Shripal Singh also said he knew nothing about the police investigation and how the closure report was filed. Dharmendra’s brother Krishanpal Singh said one of the farmers actually saw his brother being shot,but no one had informed him about the closure of the case.