Govt orders withdrawal of case against Yogi, 12 others

LUCKNOW: The state government has ordered the withdrawal of a case against chief minister Yogi Adityanth, union minister of state for finance Shiv Pratap Shukla and 11 other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders who were booked for violating prohibitory orders in Gorakhpur district in 1995.

The state law department issued the order for the withdrawal of the case a day before the state government tabled the Uttar Pradesh Criminal Law (Composition of Offences and Abatement of Trials) (Amendment) Bill, 2017 for withdrawing about 20,000 political cases registered against political leaders, legislators and ministers in the state.

Arun Kumar Rai, under-secretary in the state law department, wrote a letter to Gorakhpur district magistrate Rajeev Rautela in this connection.

In the letter, Rai said after a detailed discussion, the state government had decided to withdraw the case registered under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Pipiganj police station in Gorakhpur district. The prosecution officer had been directed to file an

application before the court to withdraw the case, he said.

A state government officer said the case under IPC section 188 was registered against Yogi Adityanath and 12 others on May 27, 1995 for holding a meeting in Jungle Kaudiya area under Pipiganj police station, despite the district administration having imposed prohibitory orders.

The case was also registered against Shiv Pratap Shukla, sitting BJP MLA from Sahjanwa Sheetal Pandey and 10 other BJP leaders: Upendra Shukla, Rakesh Singh, Gyan Pratap Shahi, Ramapati Tripathi, Bhanu Pratap Singh, Sameer Kumar Singh, Vishwakarma Dwivedi, Vibhrat Chandra Kaushik, Sambhu Sharan Singh and Kunwar Narendra Singh (principal of the Digvijay Nath College).

After the registration of the case, the district administration submitted documents and evidence in the local court for trial. Taking cognizance of the evidences, the court issued summons to all the accused. When they did not turn up after several reminders, the court issued Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) in 2014.

A Gorakhpur district administration officer confirmed that orders for the withdrawal of the case registered for violating prohibitory orders against Yogi Adityanath and others have been received. The court was closed for the winter vacation and the application for the withdrawal of the case will be moved after the court reopened, he said.

On December 22, the state assembly unanimously passed the Uttar Pradesh Criminal Law (Composition of Offences and Abatement of Trials) (Amendment) Bill 2017 for abatement of criminal trials in 20,000 cases.

A home department officer told HT the Allahabad high court had suggested the state government should formulate a law for abatement of about 20,000 cases of sections 107, 109 of the Criminal Procedure Code (apprehension of breach of the peace) that had remained pending in different courts.

The cases of breach of the peace registered against politicians up to December 31, 2015 will end following enactment of the new law, he said.