Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on Monday approved eight bills, including an amendment to the Uttar Pradesh Criminal Law (Composition of Offences and Abatement of Trials) Act of 1979 that seeks to drop 20,000 “politically motivated” cases filed across the state. These include one against Chief Minister Adityanath, The Times of India reported.
On December 20, 2017, the state government had written to Gorakhpur District Magistrate Rajeev Rautela, asking him to withdraw the case filed against Adityanath and 12 others at Gorakhpur’s Pipiganj Police Station on May 27, 1995. It alleges that they violated prohibitory orders and held a meeting.
Adityanath, who was then the local MP, allegedly made a hate speech after the murder of a Hindu boy in a clash between two groups during a Muharram procession. He had spent 10 days in jail before being getting out on bail.
Besides Adityanath, Union minister Shiv Pratap Shukla, BJP MLA from Sahajanwa Sheetal Pandey and ten others were also named in the case, which is pending in a local court. In 2015, the court had directed non-bailable warrants to be issued against the accused for failing to appear before the bench.
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