The UP government’s move not only undermines the very basis of the idea of law and jurisprudence, it also seeks to introduce a communal bias into governance and the dispensation of justice under the guise of shielding the minorities from bias and distorted police action.
In its manifesto for the 2012 Assembly election in the state, the Samajwadi Party had promised to free “innocent Muslim youth” falsely implicated in terrorism cases. In order to fulfil this promise, and reap dividends in the Lok Sabha election due next year, Mr Yadav’s government moved a petition in a Barabanki court to withdraw terrorism cases against Tariq Qasem and Khalid Mujahid (recently deceased due to illness) who were charged in connection with serial blasts in Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Faizabad in 2007 in which 16 people were killed and about 60 injured.
When the lower court rejected the petition on technical grounds, the state government persisted and approached the high court. Clearly, in pursuit of its political agenda, it wished to pre-empt examination of the terrorism charge by the courts. Not surprisingly, the high court took a dim view of this and said if terror suspects were set free in this manner, “the common man will not be able to live peacefully”. It stayed the move and referred it to a larger bench.