Allahabad HC stays UP Govt's move to withdraw terror cases(Update:Akhilesh)

In a major setback to the Uttar Pradesh Government, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday stayed the Samajwadi Party government's process of withdrawal of terror charges against those falsely implicated in terror cases.

The bench has given the state government six weeks to reply and referred the matter to a larger bench.

Campaigning for the Assembly elections last year, the Samajwadi Party had promised to review terror charges against innocent Muslim youth who had been allegedly framed in terror cases during the former Mayawati government.

The Samajwadi Party had promised to review terror charges against innocent Muslim youth who had been allegedly framed in terror cases during the former Mayawati government as part of its poll promise prior to assembly elections held last year.

After winning the polls, the state government began to work on its promise by ordering the withdrawal of terror charges against Khalid Mujahid, an accused in the Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Faizabad serial blasts case.

However, a court in Barabanki rejected the state government's plea to withdraw terror cases against Mujahid and another accused Tariq Qasmi on technical grounds, such as non-compliance of paperwork formalities.

Similarly, the Allahabad High Court had in November last year ticked off the Uttar Pradesh Government for seeking to withdraw cases against two suspects in the March 2006 Varanasi serial blasts, which claimed 25 lives, and asked if this would not encourage terrorism.