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HC stays UP govt move to free terror accused

In a major setback to the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday stayed the state government’s move to withdraw cases against terror accused.

The court questioned why the state government did not seek prior permission from the Central government before withdrawing cases against the terror accused. The court has stayed the entire process of the Akhilesh Yadav government for six weeks and referred the case to larger a bench.

 A vacation division bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Mahendra Dayal gave this order after hearing a PIL filed by lawyer Ranjana Agnihotri. Earlier, on 5 June, the court had issued a notice to the state government seeking all details of the process of withdrawing cases against the terror accused.
The petitioner Ranjana Agnihotri alleged that the state government was violating the law by proposing to withdraw cases against the people accused in terror blasts in Civil Courts in Faizabad and Sankatmochan in Varanasi. 

She said that the state government was in process to  withdraw cases against 35 terrorists and they have not taken permission from the Centre as per the rule. The court also maintained that the state is required to  seek prior permission from the Centre in the cases related to Anti-Terrorist Act and Explosives Act.

However, appearing on behalf of the state government Additional Advocate General Bulbul Gholodiyal said that the Allahabad High Court had rejected a similar PIL earlier at Allahabad hence this PIL should also be rejected.
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