MUZAFFARNAGAR: BJP legislator Vikram Saini was on Wednesday acquitted in connection with a case of inciting communal tension, a day after he was awarded a two-year jail term in an unrelated 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case.
Special MP-MLA court judge Mayank Jaiswal acquitted Saini for lack of evidence in the case.
According to prosecution officer Niraj Singh, police had registered the latest case against Saini under sections Indian Penal Code sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion) and 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship) at Kawal village in Jansath police station area on February 21, 2013.
This case was registered months before the Muzaffarnagar riots.
On Tuesday, the Special Judge Gopal Upadhyay of the same court had convicted Saini and 11 others for rioting and other offences and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each.
They were granted bail the same day after submitting sureties. The court had acquitted 15 other accused in the riots case for lack of evidence. Saini, who is the BJP MLA from Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, had said he will file an appeal against the verdict.
The 12 were convicted under IPC sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging his duty), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), and 149 (unlawful assembly).
The BJP MLA and 26 others were facing trial for their alleged role in the violence at Kawal village when a crowd was returning after the cremation of two Jat youths.
The killing of the two youths -- Gaurav and Sachin -- and one Shahnawaz triggered the communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in August and September 2013, claiming 60 lives and leaving 40,000 people displaced.