New Delhi: The Supreme Court has agreed to examine a Bihar government appeal against the acquittal of a suspect in the 1989 Bhagalpur riots in which over 1,000 people died.

Kameshwar Prasad Yadav, serving a life term awarded to him by a trial court for murdering teenager Md. Qayamuddin, was cleared by Patna High Court in June this year.

Yadav, 58, was convicted by the Bhagalpur trial court in November 2009 after the then Nitish Kumar-led government decided to reopen the riots cases in 2006.

In the apex court, senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi and lawyer Shoeb Alam, appearing for the state, contended that the high court had "erroneously" set aside the conviction on the ground of delay in lodging the FIR.

Tulsi said it was a settled law that in riot cases, such delays must be seen in the light of the fact that the city was in turmoil and victims were afraid and hesitant to depose against the perpetrators. A bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan admitted the appeal and ordered quick hearings.

Yadav had been cleared in three other riot cases and, after this June's acquittal, had walked out of jail in July.