NEW DELHI: Varun Gandhi is in for more legal trouble than he probably anticipated. Varun courted arrest on Saturday in Pilibhit, from where he is contesting Lok Sabha polls as the Bhratiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.
He is in judicial custody till today for having made highly inflammatory communal statements against the Muslim community. Several more charges have been slapped against him and his party colleagues, as the saffron brigade activists clashed with the police as he was being taken to jail.
Varun has been booked under sections 147, 148 and 149 (rioting and related charges), 307 (attempt to murder), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from doing his duty), 336 (doing any act that endangers human life or personal safety of others) and several sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other acts for violence around the district jail, police sources in Pilibhit said.
BJP leaders Kalraj Mishra, Sukhlal and B.K. Gupta have been charged for violation of prohibitory orders under Criminal Procedure Act (CrPC), when Varun courted arrest.
Pilibhit district jail’s Jailor Mukesh Arora has filed First Information Report (FIR) against Varun and other BJP members for clashing with the police.
Varun’s mother, Maneka Gandhi (BJP) faces trouble for having held a Muslim police officer responsible for injuries caused to BJP workers in the Saturday’s clash. The police officer named Pervez Mian said that Maneka must explain as to why did she name him when he was not even in Pilibhit on Saturday. “Only Maneka Gandhi knows why she blamed me. My duty was in Barkheda (on Saturday), which is around 17km away from Pilibhit. I was there the whole day,” he said.
Meanwhile, District Magistrate of Pilibhit Ajay Chauhan dismissed Maneka’s allegations as “incorrect.”
“Maneka Gandhi’s allegation about a particular cop’s involvement in Saturday’s violence in Pilibhit is incorrect. The particular cop named by Maneka Gandhi was not even present at the spot at that time,” he said.
“A case of rioting in Pilibhit has been registered under section 144,” he said.
Maneka visited her son in jail, along with BJP leaders Gangwar and Dharampal Singh. They spent around 15 minutes with him. “The registration of cases against him is part of a political conspiracy. It is frivolous. Varun is not a criminal. It is incorrect to register cases against him,” she said after meeting him.
“The contents of the CD have not yet been authenticated and the forensic report is still awaited. The picture will be clear after that. Therefore, Varun Gandhi cannot be called a culprit and cases cannot be registered against him. BJP fully supports him,” Gangwar said.
Behind the bars, Varun was being treated like an ordinary prisoner. “We have not made any special arrangements for Varun Gandhi. He is being treated like any other normal jail inmate. The only difference is that we have got a court order stating that his food will be homemade. The food will be given to him once our doctor and pharmacist have checked it thoroughly. He is like any other ordinary prisoner,” Jailor Arora said.
Regarding the security measures, he said: “There is absolutely nothing to worry about. All necessary security measures have been taken.”
