But the government declined, in its order of December, to give permission to prosecute the accused under these sections. However, Masih’s lawyer Ajay Kumar Jain did not hear about the order until recently. “They never inform us about such developments,” he said. The Sodala police, upon receiving the order, proceeded to drop the sections concerned from its charge-sheet. “This happened because the persons involved are VHP people,” said Ajay Kumar Jain. He said the government advocate hardly opposed the bail plea of the accused in the Rajasthan High Court. The police examined 44 witnesses; 14 of them were found to be directly involved in the incident, including the district unit general secretary of the VHP, Virendra Singh Ravana.
