New Delhi: A court in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, acquitted 22 persons charged with murder, arson and other violence in Mohammadpur Raisingh village during the 2013 anti-Muslim violence in the area. The court said there wasn’t enough evidence placed on the record to convict the accused, PTI reports. It also held that the “prosecution could not establish the charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” the Times of India reports.Raisuddin, a resident of Mohammadpur Raisingh in western Uttar Pradesh, died of attacks delivered by sharp instruments during the violence, in which the accused were 26 local members of the Jat community. They were arrested in the weeks and months following the violence, and as their trial continued, many were out on bail. Four died before Saturday’s verdict was pronounced.Mohammadpur Raisingh is located next to Hussainpur, its ‘sister’ village, where at least 2,400 Muslims of the village and nearby areas had taken shelter during the violence of September 2013.Local resident Haneef, Raisuddin’s son, said his father was beaten to death during the violence in his complaint to the police. It was on the basis of his complaint the case against the named and unnamed members of the mob had proceeded. Haneef had alleged that a mob of rioters attacked houses in the village, looted property and set homes on fire. The rioters also allegedly damaged a mosque and set fire to a motorcycle belonging to a police constable. Police personnel were also allegedly injured in the mob attack.The cases pertaining to the violent incidents in Mohammadpur Raisingh were registered with the Bhaura Kalan Police Station, a few kilometres away from the villages. However, after the initial FIR filed on September 8, the investigation was taken over by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).The violence in Mohammadpur Raisingh occured on September 7, 2013, roughly 36 hours before the army had been called in (not deployed) to Bhaura Kalan and nearby villages, and from where the force moved out only on September 17.The acquittal was announced in a court of the Additional District Judge, Muzaffarnagar, the Hindustan Times reports.As tensions persisted in the region, violence in Mohammadpur Raisingh occured on October 30, 2013 as well, when three Muslim young men from Hussainpur were killed, allegedly by residents of the village. Criminal cases related to the post-riot violence are also ongoing in various courts in western Uttar Pradesh.In the post-riot months, the Jats of Mohammadpur Raisingh had mobilised the community on a large scale, holding ‘mahapanchayats‘ in which it was alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government, then led by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, had neglected the needs of ‘Hindus’ to support the Muslims.More than 50,000 Muslim residents of rural Muzaffarnagar were displaced by the 2013 violence, and over 37 Muslims were reported killed, and 15 Hindus (castes unspecified). There were also instances of sexual violence, including seven cases of rape filed related to the violence by Muslim survivors, including one instance of conviction delivered in 2023.