Hate speech case against Yogi Adityanath: SC asks magistrate to pass order

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Tuesday has asked the court in Gorakhpur to decide whether it would look into the matter of decade-old hate speech complaint against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for further action or not. A complaint was filed in Supreme Court to prosecute Yogi Adityanath.

Disposing of a petition challenging the Allahabad High Court order dismissing a plea filed by one Rasheed Khan in the case, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud directed a magistrate in Uttar Pradesh to pass appropriate orders in accordance with the law in connection with the case.

Yogi Adityanath was accused of inciting hatred through provocative speeches in Gorakhpur In 2007, while he represented it in Lok Sabha. First, a police case was filed and later a chargesheet. According to the FIR, on January 27, 2007, Adityanath on the occasion of Satvi Moharram had given a call following which members of right-wing outfit Hindu Vahini, traders and businessman started assembling and raising slogans. Several properties were ablaze, religious books were damaged and destructive activities were carried out by the agitators at the Imam Chowk in Gorakhpur.