By Omar Rashid
New Delhi: The Allahabad high court has expunged the controversial observations made by a judge in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly who had recently hailed chief minister Yogi Adityanath as a modern-day ‘philosopher king’ and blamed Muslims for communal riots in the country.
The high court said the remarks made by additional district judge-fast track court Ravi Kumar Diwakar on March 5 were “unwarranted expressions containing political over-tones and personal views”.
The judge’s controversial remarks in a case related to the Bareilly riots of 2010 drew severe criticism, with activists and lawyers groups demanding action against him.
On March 19, while hearing a criminal revision petition filed by Muslim cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, whom judge Diwakar had described as the “main mastermind” of the Bareilly riots, the high court also pulled up the lower court judge for sharing his personal experiences in the order.
Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra said this was “not at all required while passing passing judicial order”.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.