Judicial probe ordered into Mathura violence

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday ordered a judicial probe into last week’s Mathura violence in which 29 people, including two police officers, were killed. The probe will be conducted by a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court and the inquiry committee has been asked to submit its report within two months.

“A judicial probe has been ordered into Mathura violence. Retired Allahabad High Court judge Imtiyaz Murtaza will conduct the inquiry,” an official spokesman said here. The spokesman said the inquiry panel would go into the circumstances that led to the incident. It has been asked to make suggestions that would help ensure that such incidents did not recur.

As many as 29 people, including two police officers, were killed during clashes between encroachers and police in Mathura last week. The violence had claimed the lives of Superintendent of Police (City) Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Kumar. Political parties had been demanding a judicial inquiry into the violence. BJP MP from Mathura Hema Malini had demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.

   Earlier, the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a PIL seeking a CBI probe into the recent violence in Mathura.  A vacation Bench comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Amitava Roy dismissed the PIL, observing that the petitioner, BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, had failed to show that the state government had not taken any step to investigate the matter resulting in people losing faith in the administration.

@Agency report.