18 acquitted in police station rioting case

Thane, Sep 9 (PTI) A local court has acquitted all 18persons in a 2006 case of rioting and attack on a police postin Bhiwandi town here. District Judge A S Bhaisare observed that the prosecutionfailed to prove the charges against all the accused and gavethem benefit of doubt. The 18 were tried for offences under IPC sections 143,147, 148, 335, 336, 395, 397, 427 read with 149, and relevantsections of the Bombay Police Act and Prevention ofDestruction of Public Property Act. Additional Public Prosecutor Dilip Bahiram told the courtthat on July 5, 2006, the mob pelted stones at a policestation which was being constructed at Kotergate in Bhiwandiand tried to demolish it. Some people from the mob broke the glass of the policestation. They entered the post and broke luggage boxes ofSRPF personnel and robbed them of cash, ATM cards, identitycards and threw away the goods lying there. They also set thegoods of police post on fire. Some policemen were also injured during the attack, theprosecution said. An offence was then registered against some members ofthe mob with Bhiwandi city police. Nearly 24 witnesses were examined by the prosecutionduring the trial. Advocate Dhananjay Patil, appearing for the accused,contested the allegations and told the court that his clientswere innocent and not involved in the crime. He, however, didnot produce any witness in support of the defence. Rejecting the prosecution’s version, Judge Bhaisarenoted that two material (key) witnesses are not examined bythe prosecution, for reasons best known to them. The material evidence against the accused is missing.None of the witnesses identified the accused in identificationparade, as it was not conducted by Executive Magistrate.Identification of accused before court and police stationcannot be said to be sufficient, he observed. From the prosecution’s story, it can safely be inferredthat the mob of hundreds of people had attacked the policepost and caused mischief by pelting stones and setting thingson afire. But, there is no evidence on record that the accusedpersons were responsible for the same, the judge noted whileacquitting them recently. PTI CORR GKDVSDM