Eight cases related to the communal riots that took place in sambhal in Uttar Pradesh in 1978 were withdrawn by the then SP government in 1993, whose files are being scrutinized in Moradabad. According to sources, on searching the old court records, files of 10 cases have been found so far, but the file of the original case related to the murder has not been found yet. Investigation of these files has revealed that in many cases, even the statements of the investigating officers were not taken and the cases were closed by filing reports based on one-sided statements. Sources say that the record of the 1978 riots is available in the files till 1983, but after that it is not available yet. On scrutinizing the records, it has been found that all the witnesses of the riots had turned hostile.
According to sources, in 1993, the SP government of the then chief minister of UP mulayam singh yadav had decided to withdraw 08 cases related to the communal riots of 1978 in sambhal through its cabinet proposal. SP leader Azam Khan and former mp Dr. Shafiqur rahman Barq are said to have played an important role behind this.
Search for living accused continues
On 23 december 1993, RD Shukla, Special Secretary, Justice Department, Uttar Pradesh government, wrote a letter to the district Magistrate of Moradabad and informed him about the decision of the government to withdraw 08 cases out of 16 cases related to the riots that took place in sambhal city on 30 march 1978. This is what has bothered the yogi government. According to sources, information has been received that 02 witnesses and 04 accused of the communal riots of 1978 are still alive. They are being searched for.
At the time of the riots, sambhal used to be a part of Moradabad district. In march 1978, a communal riot broke out in sambhal in which many people were killed. Many FIRs were lodged by both Hindu and Muslim sides. However, no case reached the stage of conviction and the witnesses also turned hostile. After the riots, many victim families and witnesses left sambhal and migrated to other cities, information about whom is being collected.
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