Khargone Ram Navami violence: Four years on, cases collapse as courts acquit all tried

Four years after communal clashes during a Ram Navami procession in Khargone left one person dead and over two dozen injured — including the district's Superintendent of Police — the legal cases stemming from the violence are steadily unravelling.

On July 27, a Sessions Court in Madhya Pradesh acquitted 11 men accused in the violence. This was the third and final riot-related case to complete trial, and like the previous two, it ended in acquittal. In their judgments, three different judges noted the prosecution's failure to establish who committed the crimes, questioned how the accused came to be implicated, and pointed out that forensic evidence contradicted claims that petrol bombs were used.

In the immediate aftermath of the April 2022 clashes, the administration had razed 16 houses in the affected localities, citing alleged irregularities, and registered 65 cases. Then-Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan had vowed that rioters would not be spared and that the strictest action would be taken against them.

However, an examination of court records shows the cases are collapsing one by one. According to Khargone police, four cases have been closed for want of evidence after the accused could not be traced. Thirty-eight FIRs remain under investigation, with police yet to locate roughly 85 accused in them. Twenty cases are at the stage of prosecution evidence submission, with witnesses being examined.

The prosecution department has said it will review the judgment before deciding whether to appeal against the acquittals.