All the seven accused in UC Jha murder case were acquitted by the court of Additional Judicial Commissioner Manoj Prasad on Wednesday on grounds of insufficient evidence available against them.
Jha was killed due to stone pelting by an angry mob agitating against the death of an eight year old girl, who came under a police vehicle on December 28, 2000.
The protesters got violent and attacked Jha, who sustained head injuries and was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead after two days.
The names of the accused persons are – Md. Junaid, Md. Tabrej Alam, Md. Jiauddin, Md. Mansood, Md. Shami Ahmed alias Bablu, Md. Sadique and Md. Naushad.
The chargesheet against them was filed in 2003 but the trial process took a long time as none of the witnesses turned up before the court.
There were as many as 35 witnesses, including 15 police officers and a magistrate who were on duty when Jha was attacked besides 20 others.
The process of examining witnesses was eventually closed. But police sought more time to produce the witnesses in the case by May 29.
Only 13 out of 15 police officers and magistrates could be examined as witnesses in the case.
Finally the accused were acquitted on grounds of insufficient evidence.
The case took more than 12 years to get disposed by the court of law.