HC turns down quash-charge plea of riots accused

Guwahati: The Gauhati high court on Tuesday rejected 2012 BTAD riots prime accused Mohibur Islam alias Ratul’s plea to quash penal provisions under Section 27 of the Arms Act against him.
Ratul was the prime accused in the CBI chargesheet in which he was slapped several criminal charges under the IPC and the Arms Act.
“The high court, while rejecting his plea, directed him to proceed though the trial in the lower court,” said CBI counsel advocate PN Choudhury.It had already rejected his anticipatory bail twice earlier in January and April. The court had then directed him to cooperate in the trial at the lower court.
A lower court is slated to hear the matter later this month.
The premier investigating agency had taken over the investigation in at least eight cases from Assam Police. The 2012 riots in the BTAD area claimed over 100 lives and rendered more than four lakh homeless in four lower Assam districts.
The CBI, after cross-examining some 50 witnesses, found that Ratul, a prominent leader of All Bodoland Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) and also a suspended police constable then, had accidentally fired at himself allegedly by an illegal weapon on July 9, 2012.
However, by suppressing the true facts, he allegedly registered a false case with Kokrajhar Police, blaming persons of a particular community charging the latter with firing at him. “Later, on his alleged directions, ABMSU called a bandh on July 20, 2012, during which four Bodo youths were lynched at his orders leading to communals riots between the two communities in the area,” a CBI official said.
The CBI, in its chargesheet, said to avoid a case of carrying illegal firearms and to mislead police investigation, Mohibur concocted a false story that subsequently affected public harmony. Mohibur was allegedly involved in several crimes like extortion, dacoity, rape, murder, possessing illegal arms and even making blue films.