The Samajwadi Party said on Monday that there was no basis of any case or FIR against senior Samajwadi minister Mohd Azam Khan in connection with the Muzaffarnagar riots.
Samajwadi Party general secretary, Ram Asrey Kushwaha told reporters in Kanpur that no case had been registered against Mr Azam Khan in connection with the violence in Muzaffarnagar, nor has he been named in any FIR and, therefore there was no basis for the demand for his arrest.
Mr Kushwaha was responding to the demand by BJP and other parties that Mr Azam Khan should also be arrested for his alleged role in riots.
It may be recalled that a TV channel had aired a sting operation showing alleged political interference in functioning of police during the Muzaffarnagar riots.
Mr Kushwaha said that FIRs had been registered against all those involved in the violence in Muzaffar-nagar and arrests were being made irrespective of their political affiliations. “The law is the same for everyone and if Mr Azam Khan had been involved in the violence, he would have been arrested too,” he said. The Samajwadi Party leader further informed that the report of a jailer at Orai jail saluting a BJP MLA, arrested in connection with the Muzaffar-nagar violence, was being investigated and action would be taken against the jailer.