Court seeks report on communal riots during Akhilesh regime

Lucknow, Sept 17: The Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench Tuesday sought details of all the riots that have taken place since the Akhilesh Yadav regime was sworn-in March 15, 2012.

The direction was given to the state government as the court heard a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by social activist Nutan Thakur.

The petitioner sought investigation by the Cenral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of all major riots that have taken place after formation of new government, and that a sitting high court judge be inducted in the one-man Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission, set up by the state government to probe the recent Muzaffarnagar clashes that left 48 dead.

After hearing arguments of petitioner's counsel Asok Pande, a bench of Justice Imtiyaz Murtaza and Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi-II directed the state's Additional Advocate General Bulbul Godiyal to apprise the court within two weeks on writs on communal riots filed in the Supreme Court and the Allahabad High Court as well.

According to the PIL, the action and policy of the current government and its officials has been such that it shows a definite tilt towards a particular sect.

In all the riots that took place in the last 18 months, the administration shied away from taking action against culprits of that particular sect, it contended, claiming this has resulted in a sense of mistrust in members of the other community, including the petitioner.

IANS