Yogi Adityanath cannot be prosecuted for Gorakhpur riots of 2007: UP govt to Allahabad HC

Uttar Pradesh Advocate-General Raghvendra Singh on Thursday told the Allahabad High Court that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other suspects cannot be prosecuted in connection with the Gorakhpur riots of 2007. This came when the court was hearing a petition that sought an independent investigation into riots.

Advocate Singh told the Allahabad HC that the case was politically motivated. He added that the principal secretary (home) refused to grant permission for prosecution and that the decision was taken on May 3 based on the opinion of the legal department. The department gave the opinion on the basis of a forensic report of a CD containing an alleged hate speech by some of the accused. The CD was submitted to the court. The next date of hearing is on July 7.

Parvez Parwaz had filed an FIR in 2008 against Adityanath, then city mayor Anju Chaudhri, then MLA Radha Mohan Agarwal and another person for inciting communal violence in Gorakhpur. The court has given Parwaz's lawyer a 10-day deadline to challenge the refusal to prosecute Adityanath in the Gorakhpur riots case. The state government has also been given a 10-day deadline to file a new application.

The law permits the state government to grant sanction for prosecution under Section 153A (inciting communal violence) of the Indian Penal Code.

Gorakhpur Riots

An argument broke out between a group of Hindus and Muslim during a Muharram procession in Gorakhpur in January 2007 following which a Hindu youth named Raj Kumar Agrahari was admitted to a hospital.

The district magistrate then made it clear that Adityanath was not allowed to visit the site as it may give rise to tension. The current UP CM agreed initially but when the Hindu youth died, he defied the orders of the district magistrate and went to the site along with his followers and began a non-violent dharna there. 

Provocative speeches were allegedly made and a few of his followers also torched a Muslim mausoleum located nearby. The police then imposed curfew in the area. However, Adityanath broke the curfew for which he was sent to jail along with his followers.

Adityanath's arrest triggered chaos after which several coaches of the Mumbai-Gorakhpur Godan Express were torched allegedly by the activists of the Hindu Yuva Vahini. This further led to communal riots across Gorakhpur wherein mosques, homes, buses and trains were set on fire.