New Delhi: A bench of the Uttarakhand high court has dismissed a petition seeking an impartial probe into the performance of a ‘purification’ ritual at a ground where Rajya Sabha leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge had delivered an address, taking on record the state advocate general’s assurance that the police will conduct a fair investigation.Baij Nath, a lawyer who said he hails from the Dalit community, petitioned the high court seeking directions for an impartial and time-bound probe into the incident, as well as for the preservation of CCTV footage, photographs, electronic communications and permissions for Kharge’s address and the subsequent ‘purification’ ceremony.Nath also asked for directions that once the investigation is over, a case be lodged invoking the Protection of Civil Rights Act, which criminalises untouchability, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act if applicable. Kharge belongs to the Dalit community, which was historically subjected to untouchability.Responding to Nath’s petition, the Uttarakhand government said that the police in Haldwani, where the ritual took place, have already lodged an FIR against a complaint by one Amit Kumar. Police in Bengaluru have also lodged a zero FIR that is likely to be transferred to Haldwani, advocate general S.N. Babulkar said, adding that the authorities will conduct a fair probe.“Since the advocate general has given assurance that the matter will be investigated in a fair and impartial manner,” said Justices Siddhartha Sah and Manoj Kumar Tiwari on Monday (September 7), “we do not find any reason to disbelieve the statement made by [the] learned advocate general”.“Therefore, no direction is needed at this stage. The writ petition is disposed of in terms of [the] statement made by [the] learned advocate general,” they said.According to an Indian Express report published on August 31, the Haldwani police lodged an FIR against Kharge’s Lok Sabha counterpart and Congress party colleague Rahul Gandhi against a complaint by Amit Kumar, invoking provisions of the BNS pertaining promoting enmity and outraging religious feelings in addition to a section of the SC/ST Act.That is the same name advocate general Babulkar brought up in the high court.As for the zero FIR, it reportedly names Uttarakhand BJP chief Mahesh Bhatt and was lodged against a complaint alleging that the ‘purification’ ritual propagated the casteist notion that the ground had turned ‘impure’ because Kharge, a Dalit, had spoken from there. Going by Monday’s high court order, it has not yet been transferred to Haldwani.Members of one Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas on August 13 performed a ‘purification’ havan at the ground where Kharge had delivered an address a few days prior. “Hindu faith has been offended by the fact that an individual who compares Hindu organisations to snakes and appeals to the Muslim community to finish them was platformed here,” its president told the press that day.Union minister J.P. Nadda said in the Rajya Sabha that what happened was a “very sad incident”. Uttarakhand BJP chief Bhatt and chief minister Pushkar Dhami, who denied that the incident had anything to do with Kharge’s caste, have suggested that the ritual took place in part because of the slogans raised during Kharge’s address, with the CM terming them “jihadi slogans”.Also on Monday, Congress MP Mallu Ravi said that the party’s SC and ST MPs had decided to form a parliamentary forum and submit a representation to President Droupadi Murmu regarding the ‘purification’ ritual on Tuesday. They will wait until the afternoon to receive permission, he said.