New Delhi, Aug 26 : The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal over the denial of the sanction to pursue Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in an alleged hate speech trial.A bench composed of Chief Justice N.V.Ramana and comprising Justices Hima Kohli and C.T.Ravikumar stated: “It appears from the document that the forensic report of the CD that is the foundation of the prosecution was found have been altered and altered as per the report, dated 13.10.2014 which was provided by the CFSL which is not disputed by the appellants in this case.”
The bench also noted that the investigation was concluded on the 6th of May, 2017 however, a protest petition was still pending before the trial court.”In these circumstances, we don’t consider it necessary to look into the arguments raised by both sides regarding the issue of the denial of the sanction to prosecute and the legal arguments that were sought to be made in connection with that question,” it added.
In the course of the trial in the case the an advocate senior Mukul Rohatgi, who represented the Uttar Pradesh government, submitted that there was no evidence in the case.He also said that the CD was sent to CFSL which was found to have been modified with.
He claimed that the issue that the petition raises was already being examined by the court of appeals.He said: “You cannot go on beating a dead horse after 15 years simply because the man happens be CM today.”
In February 2018 the high court stated that it could not detect any procedural errors in the decision-making procedure of refusing to grant the sanction of prosecuting.The petitioner Parvez Parwaz and another person protested against the Allahabad High court’s decision and sought a fair investigation into the claimed hate speech made by Adityanath in the period when he was a member of Parliament that caused the 2007 Gorakhpur protests.
Advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, who represented the petitioners, spoke about the issue as one of the issues raised in the judgment of the high court.The decision states: “Whether the state can issue an order in accordance with Section 196 of the CrPC in regard of an accused who is proposed in the course of a criminal investigation that in the meantime is elected as the Chief Minister , and becomes the executive head in accordance with the procedure laid out in Article 163 of the Constitution.” Ayyubi claimed that the high court didn’t address this issue , and added that , due to the decision to deny the grant of the sanction for prosecution, a closing report was filed.
The Supreme Court stated: “Having considered the material that has been filed and the information we have reviewed, we’re in agreement that events that followed have transformed the present appeal into a strictly academic endeavor.”
“We consider it right that the legal issues regarding the issue of sanctions be left open to be examined in the appropriate context.Therefore, this appeal is rejected.”
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A
