NEW DELHI: Spelling political relief for Varun Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Pilibhit for Lok Sabha elections, the Supreme Court yesterday ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to withdraw charges against him under the National Security Act (NSA).
The charges were imposed for his alleged hate speeches while campaigning in Pilibhit. “The state government shall forthwith withdraw the detention order against Varun Gandhi under the NSA,” the bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said.
Revocation of NSA was recommended last week by Allahabad High Court advisory board. The UP government had earlier this week filed a petition challenging the board’s order.
In his petition to the apex court, the BJP candidate from the Pilibhit constituency in Uttar Pradesh demanded a compensation of Rs.1 million for his detention for over a fortnight.
The Uttar Pradesh government had moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday, challenging the advisory board’s May 8 decision to cancel the invocation of the NSA against Varun. The apex court yesterday disposed of the petition filed by UP government as well as one filed by Varun challenging the imposition of NSA against him.
In its application, the UP government said that the board had not heard Pilibhit’s district magistrate and only the additional district magistrate was present before the board during the hearing. “This cannot be a ground to challenge the decision of the Advisory Board. The ADM was present. He must have been instructed by the DM,” the bench said.
After the bench dismissed the UP government’s petition challenging NSA against Varun, the latter’s counsel, senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi did not pursue the second petition seeking damages of one million rupees from the UP government.
Welcoming the apex court’s order, BJP spokesperson Siddharth Singh said: “BJP has always believed in the judiciary. We had said in the past that this was against the law and the Supreme Court order is a vindication of the claims. This (invoking NSA) was politics of vendetta against Varun. This is a great relief and we welcome the Supreme Court order.”
The advisory panel, a judicial forum under the Allahabad High Court, had said the step to impose the act against Varun was too harsh.
“The Supreme Court has found the application (of the Uttar Pradesh government) untenable and dismissed the NSA orders forthwith. This should have been done on the advice of the advisory board by the state government. However, better late than never. We welcome the order,” said Varun’s aunt Ambika Shukla.
