Activist who filed petition against Yogi in 2007 convicted of Rape, gets Life Term

The District Sessions Court of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh has convicted activist Parwez Parvaz, 65, in a 2018 gangrape case & sentenced him to life imprisonment along with another co-accused.

In 2007, Parvaz had moved the High Court of Allahabad registration of an FIR against Yogi Adityanath, who was then an MP from Gorakhpur, claiming that he gave a hate speech. In 2018, after the HC allowed the Uttar Pradesh Govt to not prosecute Adityanath — now the CM of UP — Parvaz filed a petition in the Apex Court against the order.

Parvaz was arrested in Sept 2018 after a 40-year-old woman accused him & Mehmood alias Jumman Baba (66) of gangrape on June 3, 2018. 

In her police complaint, the woman had claimed that she had gone to the house of Jumman Baba on June 3, 2018, for “seeking remedies” for her marital problems, when he took her to an isolated place & raped her at gunpoint along with “someone who Jumman called Parvez Bhai”.

“District & Sessions Judge Govind Vallabh Sharma on Tuesday sentenced the two accused – Parwez Parvaz & Mehmood alias Jumman – to life imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on both & ordered that Rs 40,000 from the fine be given to the gangrape victim,” Govt Lawyer Yashpal Singh said.

Parvaz’s counsel Miftahul Islam, meanwhile, said that they will be challenging the conviction in a higher Court.

Islam claimed that the Court didn't allow the defence to submit written arguments on Tuesday. “Without concluding the arguments, the judgment was pronounced. There were no arguments & we were not allowed to submit our written arguments as well,” Islam said.

But the Govt lawyer said that lawyers were given enough time to submit their arguments. “They (the defence counsels) were stalling the court proceedings in order to delay it. They had ample time to argue. The court proceedings were held as per the law,” Yashpal Singh said.

In May 2017, after the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh & Adityanath became the Chief Minister, the UP Govt refused to give sanction to prosecute Adityanath & 4 other BJP leaders in the 2007 hate speech case.

The State Govt had refused to grant sanction, saying the “video evidence (CD)” sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in 2014 was “tampered” with.

In Feb 2018, the High Court of Allahabad dismissed a writ petition filed by Parvaz & his colleague Asad Hayat, challenging the UP Govt’s refusal to grant sanction to prosecute Adityanath in the hate speech case.

“The Special Leave Petition against the High Court judgment is pending in the Supreme Court,” S Farman Naqvi, the lawyer for Parvaz & Hayat told the news agency.

Source Link