Azam sting, riots: SC seeks UP response on SIT probe plea

NEW DELHI: 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 a private television channel, showing the state minister’s alleged role in Muzaffarnagar riots.

Acting on a plea made by a bunch of petitions, a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam also directed the state 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,” the 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 M L Sharma moved a petition asking the court to restrain the state from compensating those from the minority community, who allegedly molested girls of the Jat community.

Sharma said the people had perpetrated the violence and, therefore, were not entitled to the compensation. Terming the same as serious, the bench asked the state government to place its submissions on Sharma’s allegations. The court fixed October 18 to hear the matter further.