Judicial commission report presented in UP Assembly, gives clean chit to BJP, RSS
1980 Moradabad riots
Lucknow (PTI): A judicial commission report on the 1980 Moradabad riots which was presented after 40 years in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday has given a clean chit to the BJP and RSS.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna tabled the 496-page report in the state assembly in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and gave reasons for the delay. In May, the state cabinet had decided to table the Justice M P Saxena Commission's report in the assembly.
The report has held a Muslim League leader and his supporters responsible for the 1980 riots in which 83 people were killed and several others injured. Saxena, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, had submitted his report in November 1983.
The report has justified police action saying that they fired in self-defence. It names a Muslim League leader and some of his supporters as responsible for the riots.
The report stated that neither any secret meetings were held by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or any other Hindu outfit nor Harijans (Dalits) were incited to take revenge on the Muslims. In fact, the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party had no hand whatsoever in this, it said.
After careful analysis of the facts, it is clear that in each and every incident, Dr Shamim Ahmed Khan (Muslim League leader) and his supporters played a major role and they were ready to fight with the police and administration to fulfil their political ambitions, the report said.
The commission has also made it clear in the report that the supporters of Khan included members of the Muslim League and some other people.
However, the commission has clarified that not all Muslims had a hand in organizing the riots.
The report said that on the day of Eid, police officers took utmost care and fired at the Eidgah only when there was a threat to the lives of the people living there. The bullet was fired only in self-defence. Despite this, the rioters spread excitement, it said.
Most of the deaths in Idkhana, Bhura Chauraha and Barfkhana (localities) were due to the stampede, for which police officials cannot be held responsible, it said.
A dispute during Eid prayers at Moradabad Eidgah had taken the form of communal riots.
In its report, the commission has also suggested measures to control the riots and said that when there is a riot, correct facts should be informed through loudspeakers dispelling the rumours.
When the 1980 riots took place, there was a Congress government in UP under the leadership of Chief Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh. At the time, Indira Gandhi was the prime minister.
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Karnataka MLA Vinay Kulkarni disqualified after conviction in Goudar murder case
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Saturday issued an official notification regarding the disqualification of Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni following his conviction in the murder case of BJP leader Yogeshgouda Goudar.
The former minister is currently in prison, serving life imprisonment in the case.
“Consequent upon the conviction of Vinay Kulkarni, Member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly representing the Dharwad constituency, by the LXXXI Additional City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru City (CCH-82), in Spl CC No. 565/2021, he stands disqualified from the membership of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the date of conviction, i.e, April 15, 2026,” the notification read.
“He stands disqualified in terms of the provisions of Article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution of India, read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and such disqualification shall continue for a further period of six years after his release, unless the conviction is stayed by a competent court,” it added.
Hence, one seat in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly has fallen vacant, the notification said.
Bypolls were held on April 9 to fill two other seats in the 224-member Assembly that fell vacant due to the death of sitting MLAs. The results will be declared on May 4.
On April 15, Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat convicted Kulkarni and others under various IPC sections, including criminal conspiracy and murder. Subsequently, on April 17, the court sentenced Kulkarni and 15 others convicted in the case to life imprisonment.
The case pertains to the killing of Goudar, a BJP Zilla Panchayat member, in Dharwad on June 15, 2016. Kulkarni was a minister at that time. Hired assailants attacked and hacked Goudar to death in his gym at Saptapur in Dharwad.
Following demands from Goudar’s family and others, the then-BJP government transferred the case to the CBI in 2019.
The CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet in 2020, naming Vinay Kulkarni as the “main conspirator.” It alleged that he perceived Yogeshgouda Goudar as a growing political rival in Dharwad and hired contract killers to eliminate him.
Kulkarni was arrested by the CBI in 2020. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in August 2021 under certain conditions, including a ban on entering Dharwad district. However, in June 2025, the apex court cancelled his bail following allegations of witness tampering and attempts to influence prosecution witnesses.
Kulkarni again sought bail in January 2026, but the High Court rejected it, citing judicial propriety.
However, the Supreme Court granted him bail on February 27 after noting that all witnesses had been examined.
