Amit Shah moves High Court to stay arrest


Vadodara, 9 April 2014

BJP General Secretary and party’s Uttar Pradesh incharge Amit Shah today moved Allahabad High Court seeking stay on his arrest after two FIRs were filed against him.

Two separate FIRs were lodged against BJP’s UP in charge Amit Shah in Bijnor and Shamli on Sunday for his alleged hate speech at election rallies on Friday. While UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav described Shah’s statement as ‘poison’ that was concealed in the heart of Shah and his ilk, BJP state president Laxmikant Vajpayei called the FIR as a conspiracy of by the SP government.

UP chief electoral officer Umesh Sinha said a case had been lodged under section 153 A of IPC and section 125 of Representation of People’s Act against Shah by Bijnor DM Bhupendra S Chaudhary. Video clippings of the speech have also been dispatched to the Election Commission of India.

In Shamli also, an FIR under similar sections was lodged against Shah. While section 153 A of the IPC is for promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race etc, section 125 of the RPA is for promoting enmity between classes in connection with election.

Shah during a rally at Bijnore and Shamli and allegedly exhorted the Jats to ‘take revenge of the killings during the last year’s riots by voting for the BJP candidates.” Though the FIR was lodged under sections similar to those lodged against Imran Masood – the Congress candidate from Saharanpur for his hate speech in which he had threatened to “chop Modi to pieces in case he tried to make Gujarat out of UP — legal experts believe that Shah’s arrest may not be inevitable in the case as he is not a candidate himself.

Shah in his speech had also criticized the BSP for giving tickets to 19 “people of a community who were responsible for attacking the honor of women of our families”. His alleged hare speech has invited sharp reaction from other parties and both SP and Congress approached the election commission for stern action against him.

BJP state president Vajpayei came in open support of Amit Shah. “Asking people to press the EVM button to avenge the humiliation and disrespected meted out to someone in a democratic and non-violent manner is not spreading communal passions,” Bajpayee said.

BJP said it was the Congress which was communalising the elections by having its president Sonia Gandhi appeal to Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid to ensure against the division of “secular’’ votes.