Lucknow, Sept. 10: BJP president Amit Shah was today chargesheeted for allegedly delivering an “objectionable” speech in Muzaffarnagar while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in early April.
The police chargesheet comes three days before bypolls scheduled on September 13. It was filed against Shah for allegedly seeking votes on the grounds of religion, race, caste and community.
H.N. Singh, the senior superintendent of police, Muzaffarnagar, said the chargesheet had been filed under IPC sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class) and 505 (false statement circulated with intent to cause mutiny or offence against public peace).
Shah has also been charged under Section 123 (3) of the Representation of the People Act (making an appeal to vote on the grounds of religion amounting to corrupt practice), he added.
The police had filed a case against Shah on April 6, two days after the Election Commission (EC) banned him from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh. Shah had allegedly said the 2014 Lok Sabha polls were an opportunity to seek “revenge for the insult” inflicted during the Muzaffarnagar riots last year.
The poll panel had issued a notice to Shah for prima facie violation of the model code of conduct. But he had clarified to the panel that his remarks had not been recorded in the right perspective. The ban on him was subsequently lifted.
BJP state president Lakshmikant Bajpai told reporters neither Shah nor the BJP would be “intimidated” by the chargesheet.
“The EC is a higher constitutional body than the police. When the EC had taken action against Shah and reconsidered it later, what is the relevance of the police taking fresh action?” he asked.
Allahabad High Court advocate Ajay Singh, however, said the police were free to file a criminal case even after action from the poll panel. “This case does not contradict or overlap the EC action,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the party would fight the case and ensure Shah comes out clean.
In New Delhi, the Congress expressed a “sense of satisfaction”, reports PTI.
“We have a sense of satisfaction that something that caused major concern among well-meaning people is being pursued under the law of the land and is going in a satisfactory direction,” spokesperson Salman Khurshid said..
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