Varun agrees not to make provocative speeches

Varun Gandhi, who has been booked under the National Security Act (NSA) for his alleged hate speeches, may get a reprieve, with the Supreme Court on Monday suggesting that he should give an undertaking not to make any provocative speeches if granted interim bail and the BJP candidate accepting it.

The suggestion that 29-year-old Varun should furnish such an undertaking came from a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan on a petition by the BJP leader challenging his detention under the stringent National Security Act. Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the UP government, and Pilibhit’s district magistrate, said that if Varun gave an undertaking to the court that he would not create a volatile situation after being released, then it had no objection to his getting interim bail.

 

After getting the nod of the state government, Varun’s counsel and senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi said that the BJP leader would give an undertaking as suggested by the apex court.

The hearing in the case has been adjourned till April 16.

Varun was detained under the NSA on March 28 on charges of inciting communal passion by making provocative and inflammatory speeches during his election meetings in Pilibhit on March 7 and 8. He was lodged in the district jail in Pilibhit and later moved to Etah jail for security reasons.

Rohtagi submitted that every day counts for Varun, who has to file the nomination papers from the Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency and also has to campaign.

After initial disagreement between Salve and Rohtagi as to whether the matter should be heard on Thursday, the court decided to hear it on April 16. Filing the nomination papers for the Pilibhit constituency will start on April 17.

Besides being booked under Section 307 IPC (attempt to murder), Varun also faces charges under sections 147, 148 and 149 (rioting and related offences), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 336 (doing any act that endangers human life or the personal safety of others).

Varun has also been charged under certain sections of IPC relating to public safety and certain state acts after his supporters clashed with the police soon after he surrendered before a Pilibhit court on March 28. The BJP leader had approached the apex court seeking quashing of the district magistrate’s order invoking Section 3(2) of the NSA for allegedly making inflammatory statements and causing a breach of public order when he went to Pilibhit to surrender.