NBW pasted at Barelvi sect cleric’s house on failure to appear in court

Prem Nagar Station House Officer (SHO) Ashutosh Raghuvanshi confirmed that the court order was pasted at Raza’s house located at Kuhara Peer locality.

The court had also directed the Bareilly Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to conduct departmental proceedings against the in-charge of Prem Nagar police station for not following the procedure while serving summons to Raza issued on March 5. Thereafter, the Circle Officer (CO) was directed by the court to ensure Raza’s presence at the next hearing on March 13.

The CO also failed to produce him on March 13 as the police team, which had gone to Tauqeer Raza’s residence, found it locked. The court then directed the Superintendent of Police to ensure NBW is served and it fixed March 19 for next hearing.During the previous hearing on March 5, the court issued summons to Raza in the riot case after hearing statements of witnesses. The court pointed out that despite sufficient evidence found during the investigation, Raza’s name was not included in the chargesheet, suggesting a failure of officials in the then government, including police personnel, in performing their duties.

The court had concluded that Raza delivered a speech to the gathering, leading to subsequent violence. The court declared Raza as the mastermind of the riots while issuing summons against him. The riot broke out in March 2010 following a dispute over the route of a Barawafat procession. Several persons were injured and vehicles and shops were damaged. A curfew was also imposed in the city.

The police had arrested Raza and others in the case but did not name him in the chargesheet. According to the prosecution, the case was registered against 178 named and several unidentified persons at the Premnagar police station. The police later filed a chargesheet against as many as 197 persons.