Allahabad HC expunges district court judge’s ‘philosopher king’ remark on Yogi Adityanath

LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court has expunged remarks made by a lower court judge in a ruling where he had said that CM Yogi Adityanath was a fitting example of the concept propounded by Greek philosopher Plato which says when a religious person occupies a position of power, it leads to “good results” as a religious person’s life is characterised not by indulgence but by “sacrifice and devotion”.

The move by the single bench of Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra came while passing an order on Tuesday on a plea to set aside the order passed on March 5 by the additional sessions judge of Bareilly, Ravi Kumar Diwakar, when the latter had summoned a Muslim cleric and political leader Tauqueer Raza Khan to face trial for being the alleged mastermind of communal riots that took place in Bareilly in 2010.

While the HC did not give any relief to Khan as far as staying the operation of the order and a non-bailable warrant issued against him was concerned, it did acknowledge Khan’s plea that Diwaker had given his personal views and experiences as “clear exposition” of the trial court’s political affiliations and religious views.

Diwaker had also said that riots in India were caused because the political parties always indulged in appeasement of a “particular religion” which boldened their morale to the point of expecting impunity.

The HC, in the written order, ceded that the trial court mentioned “certain unwarranted expressions containing political overtones and personal views” and the judge also shared his personal experiences which were not required while passing an order.