Indian high court denied right to prosecute state chief

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI, India

The government of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday has denied the Allahabad High Court permission to prosecute the chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the 2007 Gorakhpur riots case.

Chief Secretary of the state Rahul Bhatnagar told the court that the Home Ministry had denied permission for the prosecution of Yogi Adityanath as forensic examination of a CD of his speech was reportedly found to have been tampered with.

Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu priest, became Uttar Pradesh chief minister in March after a massive victory of his Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Allahabad High Court had last week asked the senior official of the state to present all the documents pertaining to the 2007 riots case. Yogi Adityanath, member of parliament from Gorakhpur at was one of the accused in the case.

Yogi Adityanath was accused of making an inflammatory speech in 2007.

After a young Hindu boy died in the 2007 clashes between Hindus and Muslims in Gorakhpur, the district administration instructed Adityanath not to visit the area fearing further clashes, but he defied the order.

He was later arrested. The riots in the city led to deaths of at least 10 people.