A Vadodara court on Tuesday acquitted 18 defendants in a 2006 case of riots and stoning between two communities near the Champaner gate, in which four people were killed on May 1, 2006, when the Municipal Corporation of Vadodara (VMC) was bulldozing a 200 year old dargah. Two of the four were killed by police shots, depending on the case.
On Tuesday, 16 years and 17 months after the trial in the case began, the court of the 24th Additional Superior Civil Judge and Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate B.V. Vasava held that the prosecution was “failed to prove” the charges against the 16 defendants. survivors and cleared them of all charges.
The eight-page order of the court included the testimony of a total of four witnesses, two of whom were police personnel, and only three documentary evidence, including the FIR TREE and the panchnama.
The court acquitted the defendant of all charges under the IPC sections of being a member of the unlawful assembly (143), rioting (147), guilty of the same offense committed by any member of an unlawful assembly (149), assaulting or obstructing a public servant putting down riots (152), violation of a prohibition order (188), reckless or negligent act to endanger human life (336, 337), mischief to cause loss or damage of Rs 50 or more (427 ), as well as sections of the Property Damage Law.
The indictment had claimed that a mob of Hindus and Muslims formed an “illegal assembly with a common intent” on May 1, 2006, while the VMC was removing a dargah, constituting an invasion.
The mob resorted to stone throwing which injured police personnel and also caused damage to government property such as street lighting. SI KK Joganiya, who was wounded in his left leg, had ordered shooting. The court held that witness panch, in his statement, had said that he had “signed on a prepared statement document given to him by the police.”
The court said: “The panch witness had no idea what the content of said document was. When the witness was asked to appear for an oral statement at the insistence of the prosecutor, he was unable to state any facts…” Police witness Dinesh Nathaji Gamit, who fired five rounds from a 303 rifle to disperse the crowd on instructions from his superior, Joganiya, “was unable to identify any defendants.”
The defendants included Yaqub Hussain Mohammad Hussain Khalifa, Pintu Kharwa, Rasool Ibrahim Pathan aka Lattho, Akhtiyar Khan Ibhrahim Pathan, Rajnikant Bhailal Kharwa, Rajesh Bhailal Chaudhari, Rajesh Pratap Lunkar, Jignesh Lomesh Khutwad, Arun Prakash Kharwa, Chetan Magan Kharwa, Sunil Suman Kharwa. ., Sunil Babu Kahar, Bunty Pramod Kharwa, Ghanshyam Rajnikant Kharwa, Sunil Narendrarao Gadghe, Gautam Narendrarao Gadghe and two defendants who died during the trial, Ismail Ramzan Shaikh and Lomesh Bhaisaheb Kharwa.
Since the day of the incident, two police vans are parked to cover the roadside spot where the dargah was, causing traffic jams. In the ongoing budget session of the Assembly, Sayajigunj MLA Keyur Rokadia suggested that police vans be removed from the site to regulate traffic, which was the intention of the VMC while erasing “the said invasion” in 2006.
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