Petitoner Arrested Ahead of Hearing on Adityanath Hate Speech Case

Pervez Parwaz, a social activist who has been pursuing a criminal case in various courts against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and then Member of Parliament (MP) Adityanath over a hate speech in 2007, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly raping a woman.

 

Parwaz was arrested ahead of a hearing in the Allahabad High Court on his plea seeking a stay on his arrest. He has been sent to jail. However, the HC has stayed the arrest of another accused in the alleged rape case.

 

A lawyer by profession, Parwaz had accused Adityanath of giving a hateful and provocative speech in Gorakhpur on  January 27, 2007 which, he alleged, had led to communal clashes between two communities during a Muharram procession.

 

Speaking with Newsclick, the petitioners’ counsel, S Farman Ahmad Naqvi said, "I cannot understand the motive behind Pervez's arrest when this case was already closed. Every witnesses in the case had said that they did not see any gang-rape or anything related to this. In fact, all the witnesses submitted afidavits to the police. Despite all this, the  police has re-opened the case and arrested him."

 

Naqvi alleged that the arrest may be connected to the fact that Parwaz is a petitioner in the case against Adityanath's  hate speech, as also another case related to some trustees of a shrine and the lady who had accused him for rape,who was working there as a domestic help. "Probably, they influence her to re-open the case", he alleged.

 

Lucknow-based human rights organisation Rihai Manch's general secretary, Rajiv Yadav, told Newsclick that the case regarding the alleged role of Adityanath's 2007 hate speech in the Gorakhpur communal violence was pending in the Supreme Court. 

 

Yadav said there was "huge pressure" on Parwaz to withdraw the case but he stood to his ground. Parwaz,65, and another person were booked in an alleged gang-rape case in June 2018. "The police investigated the case and found it fake and submitted their final report”, he added.

 

Yadav questioned the police's motive in arresting Parwaz now. “when the police had filed a final report in the case, why did the Gorakhpur police file a case against him on the basis of a preliminary report of a new investigation in the same case and without rejecting the earlier final report?”, he said.

 

The Rihai Manch leader alleged: “Chief Minister Adityanath himself becomes a judge and decides not to proceed with the case against him and now politically-motivated action is being taken against Pervez who took him to the court.”