New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Uttar Pradesh government’s response on a petition challenging the dropping of the 2007 Gorakhpur riots case involving Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud issued notice and sought a reply from the state government in four weeks.
“Issue notice. Let a copy of the petition be served on the caveator. Counter affidavit be filed within four weeks hence. Rejoinder, if any, be filed within two weeks. List after six weeks,” the bench said. An FIR was lodged at Kotwali police station in Gorakhpur against Yogi Adityanath, then a MP, and several others on January 27, 2007 on charges of promoting enmity between two groups.
It was alleged that several incidents of violence were reported in Gorakhpur on that day after an alleged hate speech by Adityanath. The FIR had stated that Yogi’s alleged hate speech had led to the riots, in which ten people were killed. Yogi was arrested and sent to custody for 11 days.
