Nuh Violence: Congress MLA Moves High Court, Seeks Protection From Arrest

Congress’ Ferozepur Jhirka MLA Mamman Khan has recently moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking protection from “false implication and arrest” in the Nuh violence case.

Communal clashes erupted in Nuh, Haryana and its adjoining areas after a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was attacked by a mob on July 31 leading to the death of 6 people, including 2 home guards and a cleric.

In his plea, Khan sought directions for constituting a high-level Special Investigation Team for probing cases related to the violence.

The MLA’s counsel, Arshdeep Singh Cheema, stated that he has also sought cases pertaining to incidents of violence in Nuh, including the FIR in which he had been given a notice by police, be transferred to the SIT.

In his petition, Khan, through his counsel, pleaded that the Haryana Police be directed “not to take any coercive steps against the petitioner during the pendency of the inquiry/investigation”.

The petition stated that numerous FIRs were being registered for the incidents of violence and one such FIR was registered at a police station in Nuh on August 1st. The petitioner was shocked to receive a notice under section 160 of the CrPC, dated August 25th, requiring his presence in connection with the FIR.

In a notice issued last month to Khan, the Nuh police asked the MLA to reach Nagina police station to join the investigation into the violence, but he failed to appear on two occasions during the past fortnight. On one occasion, Khan gave medical grounds for his non-appearance.

Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij recently stated that before the July 31 incident, Khan was spotted “on July 28, 29 and 30” in areas where the violence took place.

Previously Vij told reporters, “He (Khan) has been in live contact with people at these places. We are conducting an impartial probe from various angles. We will bring the mastermind before the people.”

However, in his petition, Khan stated that he was at his residence at Gurugram from July 26 to August 1st and did not go to the places where violence occurred. He also provided “evidence” of his movements in the petition.

According to the legislator’s plea, “The petitioner is approaching this Hon’ble Court in light of well-founded apprehension and threat of his false implication and arrest by the Haryana Police in the wake of public statements and utterances made by the chief minister (Manohar Lal Khattar) as well as the home minister of the state of Haryana.”

Furthermore, it has been mentioned that the petitioner is a law-abiding citizen and is invoking the inherent jurisdiction of this court “as he apprehends that since the state government failed to control the outbreak of violence, and was blamed by all sides for its mishandling, is now attempting to transfer the blame on its political opponents by falsely implicating the petitioner in the instant case”.

It was stated in the petition, the petitioner has an unblemished record and has never been involved in any case.

The petition stated, “It is common knowledge that post the unfortunate incident of violence of Nuh, the blame game had started and in order to divert the attention of the people from the failure of the government to prevent the occurrence, the high functionaries of the state including the chief minister and the home minister started blaming the opposition.”

The statement of the home minister as well as the chief minister “started to appear in the newspapers blaming the MLAs of the Congress party for the occurrence.”

Cheema stated that the petition was registered in the high court and is expected to come up for hearing later this week.