SC extends Varun`s parole till May 14

New Delhi, May 1 (PTI) Bharatiya Janata Party leader
Varun Gandhi, booked under National Security Act for his
alleged hate speeches, was Friday granted extension of his
parole for two weeks by the Supreme Court of India.

The extension of the interim bail till May 14 by the
apex court will enable 29-year-old Varun, BJP candidate from
Pilibhit Parliamentary seat, to campaign in the remaining two
phases of polling.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said
that the conditions imposed on Varun while granting interim
bail on April 16 will continue.

During the brief hearing, state government counsel and
senior advocate Harish Salve alleged that Varun was
undermining the order of the apex court which has imposed
certain conditions on him while granting parole.

"Certain conditions were imposed but the young man
does not bother about the Supreme Court order," he said,
accusing him of not informing the District Magistrate of
Pilibhit about his whereabouts between April 16 and 20 and
April 23 and 26 when he was in Uttar Pradesh.

However, Mukul Rohatgi, Varun's counsel, refuted the
allegation saying that the BJP leader was in Delhi during the
period and it was not necessary for him to inform about his
whereabouts to the Pilibhit District Magistrate.

Rohatgi said that whenever Varun visited Uttar Pradesh
for campaigning, the administration was informed in advance.

Countering the submission, Salve said the Uttar
Pradesh government has evidence to substantiate its
allegation.

When Rohatgi said that Varun will reply to the
allegations made in the affidavit filed by Uttar Pradesh Home
Secretary Javed Ahmed, Salve pointed out that the BJP leader's
representation to the Central Government against the
invocation of NSA was rejected.

Rohatgi alleged that everything against Varun was
politically motivated which was objected by Salve who accused
him of indulging in rhetoric.

Salve said that going by the conduct of Varun, it
appears that the idea of parole for him means that he can do
whatever he likes without realising that the Central
government has rejected his representation.

Rohatgi alleged that both the Central and State
Governments have one agenda to keep Varun in jail.

The BJP leader had approached the apex court after he
was arrested under the NSA for allegedly making inflammatory
statements and causing a breach of public order when he went
to Pilibhit to surrender on March 28 in a case registered
against him for allegedly making "inflammatory and communal
speech" during his campaigning there. PTI