Bihar court acquits Giriraj Singh, 22 others in 9-yr-old rail blockade case

• They were accused of staging a rail blockade in March 2014
• The "rail roko" was carried out in Bihar against the denial of special category status to Bihar by the Congress-led UPA govt
• The case was filed in the Sonepur Railway Court

A Bihar court acquitted Union minister Giriraj Singh and 22 others in a nine-year-old case after they staged a rail blockade to protest the denial of special category status to Bihar by the Congress-led UPA government in 2014.

The acquitted, including LJP MP Veena Devi and BJP leaders Ram Surat Rai and Suresh Sharma, among others, appeared before the MP/MLA court in Muzaffarpur on Saturday in connection with the Railway Act case.

They were accused of staging a rail blockade in March 2014.

The "rail roko" was carried out in Bihar against the denial of special category status to Bihar by the Congress-led UPA government.

"The case was filed in the Sonepur Railway Court and after the MP/MLA court was set up, it was transferred here. A total of 27 persons were named as accused and 23 of them were charged. All were acquitted as there was no evidence" was found against them,” lawyer Ashok Kumar told.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has repeatedly raised the demand for special status and even promised to take steps to grant special status to "all backward states".