TRENDING TAGS :
UP govt. refuses to prosecute CM Yogi Adityanath in 2007 riots case
Lucknow: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday stated before the Allahabad High Court that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cannot be prosecuted in a riots case involving a 2007 hate speech.
At the time, Yogi was the sitting MP from Gorakhpur constituency.
Appearing before the court on being summoned, Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar said that earlier in May, UP's home department had refused to allow CM's trial in the case.
The Allahabad HC had summoned the top bureaucrat explain why the five people, including Yogi Adityanath, were not being prosecuted in a case of riots in Gorakhpur in 2007. The court had asked Bhatnagar to appear before if with all the related documents regarding the issue.
Telling about the stand of the state government, the CS said that a forensic test of the CD of Yogi's alleged hate speech of January 27, 2007 testified that the CD was tampered with.
Also Read: Yogi Adityanath, NITI Aayog discuss strategy to transform UP
The case against then parliamentarian was registered in 2008 by local journalist Pervez Parwaz and social activist Asad Hayat, who is also witness to Yogi's speech.
The probe into the allegations was completed in 2015 but despite a government headed by the Samajwadi Party, no sanction was granted for Yogi's prosecution and the matter remained in limbo.
After the statement by the Chief Secretary, the petitioners said that they will move court again to challenge the government stand.
They also scoffed at the development by saying that it was ridiculous that the man in-charge of the home department, Yogi Adityanath, has given himself a clean chit.