Allahabad HC raps Akhilesh's move to release serial blast accused

Theeight-month-old Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party (SP) government has beenrapped by the Allahabad High Court (HC) for moving to release the accused ofthe 2006 serial bomb blasts in the temple city of Varanasi.

A bench of justices R.K.Agarwal and R.S.R. Maurya Thursday observed: Today you are releasing them,tomorrow you may give them the Padma Bhushan.

The court further saidthat whether those arrested were terrorists or not would be decided by thecourt and not by the state government.

The bench also asked thestate government under what grounds were the cases being withdrawn.

The petition against thegovernment's move was filed by social activist Rakesh Srivastava and advocateNityanand Chaubey.

The bench also asked thestate government on whether this move of its will not encourage criminals andterrorism.

The petition challengesthe Akhilesh government move to withdraw the cases against persons involved inthe March 7, 2006 bomb blasts in Sankatmochan temple, Dashwashmegh Ghat andCantt railway stations.

The state government hadissued notification Oct 31 seeking withdrawal of the cases against thoseaccused in the blasts.

Lawyers of thepetitioners A.K. Gupta and Shiv Shanker Tripathi said that the court has takena serious view of the government move and had said that releasing those who areslapped with stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including 302,307, 323, 427 and 120B, would not only send a wrong message but would also encourageterrorists.

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