Informant In Hate Speech Case Against UP CM Yogi Adityanath Granted Bail In Gang Rape Case By Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court last week granted bail to activist Parvez Parwaz in connection with a Gang rape case in which he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the year 2020 by a Gorakhpur court.

It may be noted that Parvez was the informant in the FIR filed against UP CM Yogi Adityanath for alleged Hate Speech. In the FIR, it had been alleged that in the year 2007, Yogi, the then Gorakhpur MP, had delivered hateful speeches seeking revenge for the death of the youth who was allegedly killed during a Muharram procession in January 2007

Perusing the judgement and records of the lower court, the bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Manish Kumar Nigam opined that the sentence awarded by the trial court be kept in abeyance in respect of the applicant/appellant (Parvez) and that he be enlarged on bail.

Essentially, in September 2018, Pravez was arrested by UP Police on the charges of Gang Rape, after a 40-year-old victim alleged that the accused raped her at gunpoint along with another person. In July 2020, the District Sessions Court of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment along with another co-accused.

Challenging the said order and judgment, he moved the High Court wherein, appearing for him Senior Adv Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi contended that the accused is innocent and had been falsely implicated in this case.

It was also argued that the FIR was lodged by the brother of the victim on the dictation of the victim and that there were inconsistencies in the age as was given by the subsequent Investigating Officer PW-5 and the age as was actually given by the victim and that there was no injury on the person of the victim.

Lastly, it was also argued that the appellant was 68 years of age and at the time of the incident, he was around 63 years of age. 

In rebuttal, AGA opposed the bail application but could not deny the fact that the applicant/appellant had no noticeable criminal history prior to the incident and also he could not deny the fact that the applicant/appellant is around 68 years of age.

Against this backdrop, granting bail to the accused on his furnishing personal bonds with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned. The Court also stayed the recovery of the fine till the decision of the appeal.

With this, Appeal was listed on July 28, 2023, for a final hearing.

In related news, the Allahabad High Court earlier this year dismissed a plea filed by one Parvez challenging a Trial Court's order rejecting his protest plea against the closure report in the alleged 2007 hate speech case against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Appearances

Counsel for Appellant: Senior Advocate Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi, assisted by Advocates Syed Ahmed Faizan, Zaheer Asghar

Counsel for Respondent: G.A., Madan Pandey

Case title - Parvez Parwaz vs. State of U.P. 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 179 [CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 2440 of 2020]

Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 179

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