Muzaffarnagar riots: Court acquits seven men due to lack of evidence

A local court here has acquitted seven accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots case due to lack of evidence, a counsel said on Sunday. The Special Investigation Team has filed charge sheets in 175 of 510 riot cases, but only 21 people have been convicted in three cases so far. More than 60 people were killed and over 40,000 people displaced in the communal riots of 2013 in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts. Bittu, Praveen, Bablu, Pankaj, Pintu, Narender, and Anil were acquitted on Sunday. Additional District and Sessions Judge Kanishk Kumar said the prosecution failed to prove its story in the case. Defence counsel Rahul Chaudhry said the complainant and other witnesses did not support the prosecution's story and turned hostile. According to the FIR filed in the matter, rioters barged into the Bahawdi village house of one Shakir and robbed cash and jewellery. The incident occurred under the Phugana Police Station jurisdiction on September 8, 2013. The SIT had filed a charge sheet a