Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti secured a judicial relief on Tuesday when the Additional District and Sessions Court in Hubli upheld her discharge by a lower court in a 1994 criminal case.

Judge B Durgappa pronounced the order dismissing a batch of five applications, challenging dropping of charges against the firebrand sanyasin and others filed by the 'Komu Souharda Vedike' or communal harmony forum and another person.

Court allows withdrawal of case against Uma Bharti

In his verdict, the judge upheld the order of the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court, granting permission for the prosecution to drop the charges against her and others, observing that he had applied his mind in the larger public interest.

The judge also said that all the mandatory provisions had been followed in dropping the charges.

Social activist Gouri Lankesh of the Vedike and others had filed the criminal revision petition against the JMFC's order passed nearly a year ago, discharging Bharti and 11 others in connection with the riots that broke out during the BJP's agitation led by her to unfurl the national flag at the Idgah Maidan in Hubli on August 15, 1994.

Seven persons had lost their lives in police firing following the violence that erupted on that day. The case took a dramatic turn when the court issued a non-bailable warrant against Bharti for not appearing before it, leading to her exit as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

She was in judicial custody for about a week in Dharwad before the JMFC set her free after dropping the charges.