Gorakhpur riots:HC seeks UP govt's response on impleadment plea

The Allahabad High Court today asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file its reply on an application for impleading Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other BJP leaders in a petition seeking probe by an independent agency into the 2007 Gorakhpur communal riots.
Justices Krishna Murari and Akhilesh Chandra Sharma directed the government to file its reply within two weeks and fixed October 9 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
The application, wherein a prayer has been made for impleading Yogi, the then city Mayor Anju Chaudhary, local MLA Radha Mohan Das Agrawal and MLC DR Y D Singh was filed by petitioners Parvez Parwaz and Asad Hayat through their counsel S F A Naqvi.

While Parwaz was the informant in the FIR that was lodged after the riots, Hayat was a witness in the case.
"Initially we had not sought impleadment of the accused since the petition, seeking a change in investigation, was essentially a matter between the informant and the state", Naqvi said.
"However, when we learnt that the state government has passed an order refusing the sanction to prosecute Yogi, we moved an application challenging the same," the counsel said.
"There could have been a possibility of those who stood to benefit from the refusal of sanction for prosecution coming up with a complaint that they were not given an opportunity for hearing. We have tried to pre-empt that," Naqvi claimed.