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Yogi Aditynath can't be prosecuted, Supreme Court dismisses plea over 2007 case
The petitioner had approached the top court against Allahabad high court's judgment on the alleged hate speech case of 2007.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea challenging the denial of sanction to prosecute Uttar Pradesh chief minister in a 2007 case of an allged hate speech. A bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice CT Ravikumar pronounced the verdict after the judgment was reserved on Wednesday. "In the above circumstances, we do not think it is necessary to go into the legal questions relating to grant of sanction. Consequently, the appeal is dismissed. The question of law is left open," Justice Ravikumar said reading out from the judgment.
The petition against Adityanath was brought by Parvez Parwaz who alleged that Adityanath, then a BJP MP, had made anti-Muslim remarks while addressing 'Hindu Yuva Vahini' activists in a meeting held in Gorakhpur in 2007. The UP government in 2017 refused sanction to prosecute the accused in the case. Against this, the petitioner first moved the Allahabad high court and then the Supreme Court.
In its verdict delivered in February 2018, the high court had said it has not found any procedural error either in the conduct of an investigation or in the decision-making process of refusal to grant sanction to prosecute.
An FIR was lodged at a police station in Gorakhpur against Adityanath, then a Member of Parliament, and several others on alleged 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.
