2007 Gorakhpur riots: UP govt refuses sanction to prosecute Yogi Adityanath, says case ‘politically motivated’

The Uttar Pradesh government has refused to grant sanction for the prosecution of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a decade-old communal riots case, the state’s top bureaucrat told the Allahabad high court today.

The riots in Gorakhpur in January 2007 were sparked allegedly after a provocative speech by Adityanath, the then local MP, over the killing of a Hindu youth in clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups during a Moharram procession. The BJP MP was arrested and remained in jail for 10 days before getting bail from a court. An affidavit stating that sanction has been “refused” for prosecuting Yogi Adityanath in the case was filed before the high court by Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar.

The sanction is needed to file a chargesheet against Yogi Adityanath under IPC Section 153-A on the charge of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and caste. This offence is punishable with imprisonment of up to five years. A request from the UP police to the state Home Department seeking sanction to prosecute the case where Yogi Adityanath is an accused along with four others including party MLA from Gorakhpur Radhamohan Das Agarwal is hanging fire for two years.

The chief secretary had been asked …read more