It can be called the saddest day for those who sacrificed their lives for a separate Uttarakhand state because the CBI, which is probing the shootout at Rampur Tiraha in Muzaffarnagar, has told the court that the documents, including the charge sheet and the original copy of the FIR, have gone missing. The CBI has requested the court to consider the photocopy as the original document and allow proceedings.
The premier investigating agency has informed a court here that original documents, including the charge sheet and FIR relating to the 1994 Rampur Tiraha firing case, are missing and sought permission to proceed with the photocopies.
The case relates to police firing on Uttarakhand state agitators at Rampur Tiraha in Muzaffarnagar district on the midnight of 1 and 2 October, 1994.
It is alleged that seven agitators were killed in the police firing and policemen raped the agitating women. The CBI had filed separate charge sheets in this case.
Nineteen former policemen are facing trial under IPC sections 376D (gangrape), 554 (sexual harassment) and 492 (breach of contract to serve at a remote place).
According to CBI counsel Dhara Singh, the original documents, including the chargesheet and the FIR, are missing from the case file and the CBI has requested the court to allow it to proceed with the trial with photocopies of these documents.
Dhara Singh later told the media that Additional District Sessions Judge Shakti Singh has fixed August 3 as the date for passing the order on the request of the CBI.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the charge sheet along with other documents was filed in 1996 in a special court in Dehradun after investigation. The cases were later transferred to the Muzaffarnagar court in UP.
Rampur Tiraha case: The wounds that haven’t healed yet
The night of October 1 and the following day, October 2, 1994, at Rampur Tiraha in Muzaffarnagar left an indelible mark on the memories of people. During that period, the demand for a separate hill state, Uttarakhand, from Uttar Pradesh was at its peak. Slogans like ‘Badi-Madua Khaayenge Uttarakhand Banayenge’ resonated in the air.
The movement for a separate state intensified in Uttar Pradesh with Mulayam Singh Yadav saying, “Pahad ne Mujhe Vote Nahi Diya” (The hills didn’t vote for me), became a figure of public discontent. On October 1, some protestors set out for Delhi on 24 buses from the hilly regions to take the movement to the national capital. However, they faced obstruction at Roorkee’s Narsan border, and then at Rampur Tiraha in Muzaffarnagar.
The situation escalated at Rampur Tiraha on October 1, 1994, with an altercation between the protestors and the police, leading to sloganeering and stone-pelting. The then DM, Anant Kumar Singh, was injured during the chaos. In response, the UP police conducted a brutal lathi-charge and arrested around 250 protestors. Amidst the clash, there were allegations of police misconduct, including molestation and rape of women.
Despite the brutal actions of the UP police on the orders of then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, local residents offered refuge to the women and protestors in their homes. When news of the incident spread, more protestors arrived at Rampur Tiraha in 40 buses late at night, resulting in further clashes. The situation worsened on October 2, 1994. UP police fired about 24 rounds, leading to the loss of seven lives and several injuries.
The Rampur Tiraha incident further fuelled the movement for a separate hill state, and after a prolonged struggle of six years, Uttarakhand finally achieved statehood on November 9, 2000, breaking away from Uttar Pradesh. In the aftermath of the Rampur Tiraha case, many policemen and administrative officers faced FIRs, and in 1995, the Allahabad High Court ordered a CBI inquiry. Unfortunately, the original files related to these cases have mysteriously gone missing, leaving a sombre and distressing void in seeking justice for the past events.
