M A I N   N E W S

SC notice to UP, Centre on relief
R Sedhuraman/Legal Correspondent

Curfew eased Curfew was lifted from 10 am to 7 pm in the three curfew-bound police station areas in Kotwali, Civil Lines and Nai Mandi areas of the district. The official death toll has mounted to 43. A delegation of 25 BJP MLAs and MLCs were also arrested in Ghaziabad. They were trying to move towards the strife-torn Muzaffarnagar. Ajit Singh held Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Baghpat MP Ajit Singh was arrested along with his supporters from Baghpat bypass when he was on the way to visit his constituency. When he was not allowed to enter the district even alone, he courted arrest and demanded the immediate dismissal of the Akhilesh Yadav government and imposition of President’s rule for its complete failure to prevent the riots

New Delhi, September 12
In a setback to the Uttar Pradesh government, the Supreme Court today rejected its plea against involving the Centre in two PILs over the Muzaffarnagar violence.

A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam passed an order asking the state government to take all steps, in association with the Centre, for providing food, shelter and medical facilities to the affected people in the riot-hit district.

With the situation in Muzaffarnagar city fast returning to normal, curfew was lifted from 10 am to 7 pm in the three curfew-bound police station areas. After six more deaths were reported since yesterday. The official death toll reached 43.

The Bench, which included Justices Ranjana Desai and Ranjan Gogoi, directed both the state and the Centre to file their response to the PILs by September 16 when the case comes up for hearing again.

However, the Bench accepted the state government’s plea against entertaining the plea for a directive to the Centre to intervene and deal with the “internal disturbance” as provided under Article 355 of the Constitution.

Appearing for the state, senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan said intervention under Article 355 was nothing but a ruse to ensure imposition of President’s rule under Article 356. PILs should not be allowed to create political fissures and friction between the state and the Centre, he argued.

The state pleaded with the SC not to issue notice to the Centre in the case, but sensing the mood of the Bench it scaled down its request to restrict the order to the need for immediate relief measures to the victims.

Muzaffarnagar bore the brunt from where alone 38 deaths have been reported. Two of the injured succumbed to their injuries, taking the number of dead in Baghpat to three. One death each has been reported from Saharanpur and Meerut.

The situation in the rural areas of Muzaffarnagar and the neighbouring districts of Baghpat, Shamli, Saharanpur, Meerut, Hathras and Bijnore is far from normal with rumours doing the rounds.

In order to curb the rumour-mongering through social media, Home Secretary Kamal Saxena today announced an award of Rs 1 lakh to any person who provides a tip off regarding those behind their circulation.

Shahnawaz, a farmer from Shamli, said, “I received one which showed some men dressed in shalwar-kameez brutally killing some people. Men in this area do not wear such salwar-kameez and the video definitely belongs to some other place or country”, he said.

The state government has suspended three SHO-level police officers in Baghpat. The action was taken after the death of two of the nine injured undergoing treatment.

Saxena said two more provocative video tapes of public meetings held on August 30 and 31 have surfaced and are being examined for further action.

Explaining the reason for the failure of the police to arrest any of the 40 named persons, including four sitting BJP MLAs, named in the FIR for delivering inflammatory speeches at the mahapanchayat of September 7, Saxena said that the video tape of the meeting was under examination.