LUCKNOW: THE Allahabad High Court on Friday deferred till Monday the hearing in a petition seeking a CBI inquiry into the 2007 Gorakhpur riots in which Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had been named as one of the accused.
However, earlier on May 11, 2017 Yogi Adityanath government had apprised the Allahabad High Court that it had “denied permission” for the chief minister’s trial in the 2007 Gorakhpur Riots case.
The division bench had directed the then chief secretary to appear in person and file a personal affidavit, besides producing all documents related to the riots, and the sanction given by state government to prosecute the accused.
The order was passed on a petition filed by Parvez Parwaz, the complainant in the FIR that was lodged at Cantt police station of Gorakhpur in connection with the riots.
In January 2007, 10 lives were lost in communal riots across Gorakhpur. The situation precipitated after young boy, Raj Kumar Agrahari, was hospitalised following clashes between two groups during a Muharram procession in Gorakhpur.
Yogi Adityanath, the then Gorakhpur MP, was instructed by the District Magistrate not to visit the site as it may increase tension. Initially Adityanath agreed but eventually defied the DM’s order when Agrahari succumbed to his injuries at a nearby hospital.
Adityanath announced a “non-violent dharna” at the site, with a group of his followers. But inflammatory speeches were made and some of his followers went on to set a nearby mausoleum to fire.
To control the rapidly worsening situation, local police imposed curfew, but Adityanath defied it too. He was subsequently arrested and jailed for 10 days on charges of disturbing peace.
His arrest, however, only added fuel to the fire in the city. Activists of Hindu Yuba Vahini went berserk and set many coaches of the Mumbai-Gorakhpur Godan Express afire.