Noida Police Adds Hate Crime Charges in Muslim Man Assault Case After Supreme Court Intervention
The Noida Police has filed a supplementary chargesheet invoking hate crime charges against five men accused of assaulting and robbing a 62-year-old Muslim man in 2021, following directions from the Supreme Court.
During a hearing on July 14, Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj informed a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that the investigating officer’s report has been forwarded to the state government for prosecution sanction. The court granted the Uttar Pradesh government four weeks to secure this approval.
Initially, the police filed a chargesheet in March 2023 framing the incident as a routine robbery by a gang targeting lone commuters, ruling out any communal hate crime angle. However, after the Supreme Court summoned the case diary in January 2023, the police revisited the case.
The supplementary chargesheet invokes Section 153B of the Indian Penal Code, which punishes imputations prejudicial to national integration, and Section 295A, which criminalises deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings.
The assault occurred in 2021, and the victim had alleged that the attack was motivated by religious hatred. The case highlights the role of judicial oversight in ensuring that hate crimes are properly investigated and prosecuted.
