Varun Gandhi gets bail but NSA keeps him in jail

Pilibhit: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi was on Monday granted bail by a court here in two criminal cases against him, but he will remain behind bars as he also faces charges under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).

Pilibhit Chief Judicial Magistrate Vipin Kumar granted him bail against two sureties of Rs 20,000 each besides a personal bond.

Much drama preceded the bail order that was passed under the tightest security that this town has witnessed in recent years.

A two-kilometre security net was laid around the court with armed cops of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) maintaining a strict vigil to prevent any recurrence of violence that rocked the town on Saturday when Varun Gandhi arrived here to court arrest.

The police sought the court's permission to exempt Varun Gandhi from appearance and also suggested if the hearing can take place in the jail itself.

The judge thought over the issue and eventually carried out the hearing without the young leader being produced in his court.

The BJP has announced Varun Gandhi, son of former central minister Maneka Gandhi, will be its candidate from Pilibhit.

In sharp contrast to convergence of a large number of BJP supporters who resorted to violence leading to an almost riot-like situation on Saturday, not many turned out to rally for Varun Gandhi this time.

Moreover, there was hardly any movement of vehicles in the town, about 350 km from Lucknow, given the curfew-like situation.

The cases in which the bail was granted related to speeches Varun Gandhi delivered in Dalchand locality of Pilibhit and Barkhera village of this district earlier this month.

Varun Gandhi was booked under sections 147, 148 and 149 (rioting and related charges), section 307 (attempt to murder), section 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and section 336 (doing any act that endangers human life or the personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in connection with the violence around the district jail on Saturday.

Late Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh government also slapped charges under NSA on him.

Along with Varun Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Kalraj Mishra, local legislator Sukhlal and former legislator B K Gupta were also named in another first information report (FIR) registered for violation of prohibitory orders when he was arrested.