On Wednesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a charge sheet in the Jawahar Bagh violence case in Mathura in the special court of Gaziabad. 96 people including Ram Vriksha Yadav and Chandan Bose have been named as accused in the 800 paged charge sheet that the CBI official filed after investigating the matter for over 6 years.
The case dates back to June 2016 when members of the Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi led by its President Ram Vriksha Yadav encroached upon Jawahar Bagh park in Mathura, built on government land, and later clashed with police, martyring an additional SP and a sub-inspector on the spot.
Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, an outfit claiming allegiance to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had been granted permission by the state government to stage a protest inside Jawahar Bagh for two days in January 2014. But the group led by Ram Vriksha Yadav occupied the public park for over two years. The members of the organization clashed with the police who tried to evict the illegal occupants. Reportedly, 27 more individuals died in the clash.
UP Police tried to solve the issue through communication but were attacked
According to the reports, the Police made several attempts to conduct talks with Yadav who would every time place an unusual condition to end the protests. “Reduce petrol to Rs 1 per liter, change the Indian currency,” he would say. The matter later reached the High Court which ordered the police to vacate the public park.
On June 2, 2016, the Police reached the spot to vacate the ground. The members of the Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi however attacked the Police as they initiated the conversation with Yadav. 29 people including SP Mukul Dwivedi and SO Santosh Kumar Yadav breathed their last after the violence that happened in Mathura. Later several FIRs were lodged against Yadav and many unidentified individuals on various charges including assault and rioting.
Akhilesh Yadav was criticized by BJP, BSP and the then Governor
Notably, the then Samajwadi Party government led by the then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was sharply criticized by the BJP and BSP over the Mathura violence. The then BJP chief Amit Shah had demanded resignation of state cabinet minister Shivpal Yadav while BSP supremo Mayawati had sought a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the incidents.
Shah, accusing Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Yadav of being responsible for the violence, had said that if even a little bit of self-respect was left in SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, he should get the resignation of minister Shivpal Yadav immediately. “Akhilesh Yadav ji, if you have to maintain a relation of chacha-bhatija, you should tell the public that you have no relation with them. Politics should not be done over the dead,” Shah was quoted.
Meanwhile, the then BJP state chief Keshav Prasad Maurya had alleged that the attackers who killed 29 people including two police officers were goons of the then PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav and so no action was being taken by the Yadav government.
Shah also during the 2017 state Assembly elections had criticized the law and order situation of the state and had said, “An SP is killed in broad day light. An SHO is killed. More than 200 people open fire on the police with rifles and explosives but the minister sitting in the secretariat in Lucknow gives patronage to them and does not allow the police to act.”
BSP supremo Mayawati had also attacked Akhilesh Yadav accusing him of not taking the Mathura violence seriously. She also demanded a CBI or Supreme Court-monitored probe into the incidents. Moreover, the then Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik had also targeted Yadav for not taking the case seriously. The then Governor said he had also directed the state to issue a white paper on the encroachment of government land in the wake of the Jawaharbagh violence in Mathura in 2017, but nothing happened.
CM Yogi also cornered Akhilesh Yadav over the incident
Recently, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath also chastised SP leader Akhilesh Yadav over the Jawahar bagh violence. On January 4, while addressing a rally in Mathura, Yogi said that Yadav did nothing for the state and also accused the Jawahar bagh violence was erected and promoted by the then government.
अखिलेश जी…जब आप को सत्ता मिली थी तब मथुरा, वृंदावन, बरसाना, गोकुल के लिए कुछ नहीं किए…
— BJP Uttar Pradesh (@BJP4UP) January 4, 2022
लेकिन वहां पर ‘कंस’ को पैदा करके जवाहर बाग की घटना जरूर करवा दिएः मुख्यमंत्री श्री @myogiadityanath pic.twitter.com/FyvKJKNm1L
A huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives were recovered from the huts set up inside the park during the illegal occupation by the members of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi led by its President Ram Vriksha Yadav in 2016.
According to the reports, the CBI filed a charge sheet in the 6-year-old case and named around 111 accused in the case. However, 15 of them have already died. The Court will hear the case next on January 10, 2023.
