Allahabad HC asks UP govt on steps taken on Kairana exodus

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday sought to know from the Uttar Pradesh government what steps have been taken to ensure the safety and security of Hindus in Kairana, whose alleged exodus following extortion threats and violent attacks by local musclemen, led to a political controversy.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice DB Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Verma asked the state government to file its reply within two weeks and apprise the court about the whereabouts of the hundreds of Hindus, who have reportedly fled the town located in Shamli district of western UP.

The order was passed on a PIL filed by a social worker, Lokesh Khurana, who has sought a direction to the Union Home Ministry to take cognisance of the plight of Kairana's Hindus, who are in a minority there, and order a CBI inquiry into the atrocities against them which was allegedly not being investigated by the state police due to "political pressure".

The petitioner has alleged that the state's Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police had declined to appear before the National Human Rights Commission when they were summoned in this connection.

The alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana made headlines last year when local BJP MP Hukum Singh released a list of more than 300 Hindu families who had reportedly fled the town following repeated extortion threats and violent attacks.

Singh had alleged that the ruling Samajwadi Party was preventing action against anti-social elements responsible for the exodus since they happened to be its supporters.

The issue had also figured prominently at the BJP's National Executive meeting held in Allahabad in June, which was attended by the party's top brass including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and president Amit Shah.

However, the allegations were countered by SP which charged BJP with trying to trigger communal tension in western UP with an eye on political gains ahead of Assembly polls in the state.