6 more arrested with illegal weapons
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 14 Feb: Six more miscreants have been arrested in Haldwani by Uttarakhand Police in connection with the violence in Banphulpura, Haldwani, on 8 February. With this, the number of those formally arrested in this regard has gone up to 36. Illegal weapons and ammunition have been recovered from the possession of those arrested. In addition, Commissioner, Kumaon, Deepak Rawat has begun the magisterial inquiry into the incident and in this connection has invited complaints and information from the people.
The Nainital Police and the paramilitary forces have also begun conducting house to house searches to trace and arrest those women who participated in the violence. It is a major challenge to identify these women as they were burqa clad on the day when they were pelting stones on the police personnel.
In addition, in case of a PIL filed in this case at the Nainital High Court, the Court has sought a response from the state government in four weeks. The Uttarakhand High Court also expressed its desire to hear the case after 6 weeks. Senior Supreme Court advocate Salman Khurshid is the lawyer representing the Muslim side.
The case was heard today before a single bench of Senior Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari. During the arguments, the court said that the land in question has been described as Nazul land, which was given for agricultural purposes on a lease of 10 years, but it was not renewed after the lease ended. The court was told that, as per the rules, if the land is used for purposes other than the given reason, then the lease is automatically cancelled.
Petitioner Safia Malik’s lawyer Salman Khurshid argued that those living on this land should not be asked to vacate and the demolition of their constructions should be done only after a regular legal process. Salman Khurshid complained to the court saying that the structure in question was demolished within four days of issuing the notice, whereas this action should be taken after 15 days.
