Sedition charge against AAP legislator Naresh Yadav dropped in Malerkotla Quran sacrilege case
Police had booked Yadav, former RSS Pracharak Vijay Kumar and three others after the Quran-burning incident in Muslim-dominated Malerkotla on June 24, 2016.
In a major relief to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator from New Delhi, Naresh Yadav, additional sessions judge Dinesh Kumar dropped the sedition charge against him in the Malerkotla Quran sacrilege case on Thursday and sent the case for trial to chief judicial magistrate (CJM), which will take its course regarding the other offences.
After the Quran-burning incident in Muslim-dominated Malerkotla on June 24, 2016, police booked Yadav, former RSS Pracharak Vijay Kumar and three others under Section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli¬gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli¬gious beliefs), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc.), 120 B (conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code. Currently, all the accused are out on bail.
“The court was to decide whether sedition charge in the case is relevant or not. The court agreed that this is not a sedition case and removed Section 124-A on Thursday,” said Yadav’s counsel Narpal Singh Dhaliwal.
“The case was sent to the sessions court from Malerkotla due to the sedition charge. The additional sessions judge sent the case back to the CJM after removing Section 124-A. The CJM will take up the case for other offences on October 22,” added Dhaliwal.
Naresh Yadav termed it a “historic verdict” and accused the then SAD-BJP government of conspiracy. “The state had to face disappointment in court as additional sessions judge removed the sedition charge. I hope other charges will also be dropped by the CJM. The verdict is a victory of AAP which was targeted ahead of the 2017 state assembly polls by the RSS, BJP and SAD. The SAD-BJP conspired to defeat AAP,” said Yadav.
Leader of opposition and Dirba AAP MLA Harpal Singh Cheema said the verdict has exposed the SAD-BJP and Congress. “The SAD-BJP government tried to defame AAP with a false case and the Congress also supported it after coming to power,” Cheema told HT.
