LUCKNOW UP cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, chief of Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC), on Wednesday again failed to appear before a Bareilly court despite summons in connection with the 2010 Bareilly riots case. He was admitted to a Delhi hospital after complaining of chest pain and breathing problems on Tuesday.
The court of ADJ Ravi Kumar Diwakar of Fast Track Court-I had issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Khan but deferred the date of appearance before court to April 1, after the court of district judge took cognizance of the application filed by another accused seeking transfer of the riots case to another court.
A court official informed that the cleric’s lawyer appeared before the court to give an application on his behalf, but the court refused to accept it as Allahabad high court had directed the cleric to appear before the trial court on Wednesday, and now, he must file application in the high court to get any relief in the matter. He said the police could now arrest him in compliance with the NBW issued against him by the trial court in the riots case.
A senior government counsel of Bareilly informed that the cleric had approached the Allahabad high court to get relief in the case against the NBW issued against him, but the court turned down his plea. He said the court, however, directed him to appear before the trial court on March 27 (Wednesday). The cleric did not appear on the fixed date citing health reasons, he added.
The government counsel said the trial court had on March 19 deferred the date for his appearance to April 1 after the court of district judge took cognizance of the application filed for transferring the case to some other court. The court is likely to wait till April 1 and issue further directives thereafter, he said.
Bareilly additional district government counsel Digamber Patel informed that Tauqeer Raza was elusive since the trial court of ADJ Ravi Kumar Diwakar summoned him, taking suo motu cognizance of his alleged involvement in a 2010 riots case, on March 5.
In his order, the ADJ had stated that the name of Tauqeer Raza, who allegedly instigated the riots, was earlier not included in the chargesheet despite having sufficient evidence and considered him as the mastermind of riots, the ADGC said.
“The court has issued two warrants dated March 5 and 11 asking local police to produce him before the court and issued NBW on March 13, when he did not appear on two dates directing strict orders to police officials to arrest him and produce him in the court on Tuesday (March 19),” said a Bareilly police official.
He said the police launched a major hunt after the court’s order and carried out raids in different districts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Rajasthan and Hyderabad, but he could not be arrested.
Riots had erupted in Bareilly on the day of Juloos-e-Mohammadi following a clash between two groups on March 2, 2010. Tauqeer Raza allegedly delivered an inflammatory speech while addressing a crowd, after which a mob torched a police post and houses belonging to members of a community were set on fire. Following the clash, curfew was imposed in the city for around four weeks.
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