New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday defended its decision to charge Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and told the Supreme Court his allegation of harassment was baseless.
In its 35-page response to the notice issued by the apex court on April 2, the state government said the inflammatory statement by Varun and the manner in which he surrendered for the cases registered against him amount to the breach of public order warranting invocation of the National Security Act against him.
The state government and the District Magistrate of Pilibhit said the NSA was invoked against Varun for his speeches "having communal overtones and the chaos created by him while surrendering before a court on March 28".
The state government contended that there was no need for the authority to supply entire material including the CDs of the speeches and events relating to Varun's surrender for booking him under NSA. It denied the allegation that NSA was imposed against him with any political motive or to sabotage his electoral debut.
The apex court will hear the matter on April 13.
Varun, 29, had moved the court challenging his detention under NSA for his alleged hate speeches in Pilibhit last month. He was taken to the Piliibhit district jail and later shifted to Etah jail for security reasons.
The apex court had sought a response from the UP government after Varun's lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Sourav Kirpal had alleged that the District Magistrate slapped the NSA without authority.
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