Varun not ‘hate monger’

I shall continue working for a united India, says BJP MP

BJP MP Varun Gandhi has been acquitted in the second of two cases that accused him of delivering hate speeches in his constituency Pilibhit during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

He was last week acquitted by the Pilibhit court in the first case registered against him in the same matter.

The 51 odd prosecution witnesses did not indict him for delivering speeches to provoke communal hatred in the first case and since the same witnesses were named for the second case also, the acquittal did not come as a surprise.

Even journalists who had broadcast the two alleged ‘hate speeches’ were also unable to furnish the unedited and original footage before the court.

Chief judicial magistrate Abdul Qayum cleared Mr Gandhi of the charges in the case for which the BJP leader had been jailed and had the National Security Act slapped against him.

It may be recalled that Mr Gandhi had to spend about 20 days in jail before he was released on bail. He went on to win the election from Pilibhit with a huge margin.

In a statement, 33year-old Varun expressed his faith in the judiciary. “This has been a hard-fought battle for justice. I welcome the court’s decision in vindicating me. I am grateful to those who stood by and believed in me through this difficult time”, he said.

WHAT HE ALLEGEDLY SAID —

This is not the (Congress symbol) ‘hand’, this is the hand of the ‘lotus’. It will cut the throat of the (a derogatory reference to a minority group) after the elections... Varun Gandhi will cut... Cut that hand, cut it, cut it.

Go to your villages and give the call that all Hindus must unite to save this area from becoming Pakistan…

THE FIRS

The first FIR against Varun was lodged on March 17, 2009 at Barkhera police station and the second one a day later in Dal Chand for allegedly making speeches with communal overtones. A third FIR was lodged on March 28, 2009 when Varun’s supporters attacked police after the court remanded him in judicial custody.

LACK OF EVIDENCE

The court acquitted him in the cases on the basis of eyewitness accounts and a report of Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Chandigarh, which said video CD of the ‘hate speech’ had been ‘doctored’.

51 witnesses produced by the prosecution did not indict him for delivering speeches to provoke communal hatred.

IN DEFENCE

Varun maintained that the cases were filed to malign him. Defending his campaign statements, he said in one of the speeches, he had referred to ‘bad elements’ while tapes of the second speech were ‘doctored’.