Attempt to murder charge against accused dropped
Move comes in the wake of statewide protests by Jat bodies; some khap representatives also met Haryana DGP on Friday
CHANDIGARH: The Kurukshetra police have dropped the attempt to murder charge from the case registered against five youths for ink attack on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Raj Kumar Saini.
The move comes in the wake of protests by Jat bodies and khaps in several parts of the state.
Kurukshetra superintendent of police Simardeep Singh told Hindustan Times that Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been dropped from the case. “On the basis of interim report received from FSL (forensic science laboratory) and medical opinion, the offence under Section 307 is not made out. Therefore, it has been deleted from the case,” he said.
The police had slapped attempt to murder charges on five youths who had hurled ink at the Kurukshetra MP and allegedly tried to manhandle him at a public function on Sunday.
Saini, who has been strongly opposing quota to Jats, accused the youths of attacking him physically.
The police move to book the ink throwers under section 307 snowballed into a major controversy when several Jat groups and khap leaders took to the streets in different parts of the state to vent their ire.
Protests were held in Hisar, Rohtak Kaithal, Karnal, Mahendragarh, Jind and some other districts against slapping of attempt to murder charges on the accused, giving anxious moments to Jat leaders of the ruling party.
Khap leaders also came out in their support, accusing the police authorities of being unfair.
When some khap representatives met director general of police KP Singh on Friday, he assured a fair probe and told the district police to look into the matter.
A few hours later, the section was deleted from the case. The accused, identified as Harikesh, Sandeep, Saurav Dhanda, Praveen Dhanda and Jitender, belong to Hisar.
5-DAY ULTIMATUM BY KHAP
Eerlier in the day, the Kajla khap had given a five-day ultimatum to the government to drop the attempt to murder charges against the accused in the ink attack.
Addressing a press conference at the Jat dharamshala in Hisar, Rajmal Kajla, head of the khap, said, “If the police failed to do drop attempt to murder charges from the FIR in the ink attack , we will intensify our protests.”
Meanwhile, 12 khaps were on an indefinite hunger strike at Narnaund town in the district, demanding withdrawal of Section 307 against the accused.