Muzaffarnagar: SC seeks UP govt's response on sting operation

In what could spell trouble for Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan the Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from Uttar Pradesh government on the sting operation, telecast on private television channel, showing the state minister’s alleged role in Muzaffarnagar riots.

In what could spell trouble for Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan the Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from Uttar Pradesh government on the sting operation, telecast on private television channel, showing the state minister’s alleged role in Muzaffarnagar riots.


Acting on plea made by a bunch of petitions, a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam also directed the Mulayam Singh Yadav government to respond to the plea for a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the riots as well as the sting operation.

“These are serious allegations. You (state government counsel) have to respond to them separately,” court told UP government counsel, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan.

Senior advocate Bhim Singh, appearing for the Supreme Court Bar Association, drew the court’s attention to the sting operations that showed two senior police officers, then posted in Muzaffarnagar, admitting they did not act deliberately on Khan’s instructions.

The police officers said they were told to release men initially arrested by them after the trouble started.

Meanwhile, advocate ML Sharma moved a petition asking the court to restrain the state from compensating those, belonging to the minority community, who allegedly molested the girls of the Jat community. Sharma said the men had people had perpetrated the violence and, therefore, not entitled to the compensation.

Terming the same as serious, the bench asked UP government to place its submissions on Sharma’s allegations. The court fixed October 18 to hear the matter further.