Apex court to decide Thursday on NSA against Varun

New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) The Supreme Court is likely to take a final call Thursday on the legality of imposing the stringent National Security Act (NSA) on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi by the Uttar Pradesh government for his alleged hate speeches during the poll campaign.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan is to hear a bunch of lawsuits on the issue, including the latest one filed by Varun Gandhi Wednesday.

In his latest petition, Varun Gandhi, the BJP candidate from the Pilibhit constituency, demanded a compensation of Rs.1 million for his detention for over a fortnight after he was arrested and the NSA charges were applied March 28.

Appearing for the young leader before the bench, former additional solicitor general Mukul Rohtagi also sought the court's direction to the state government to abide by the state advisory board's direction to scrap the invocation of the security law against his client.

Citing an apex court ruling, Rohtagi told the bench, which also included Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Deepak Verma, that the advisory board's finding on the legality of invocation of NSA against an individual is final and the state government must abide by it.

Rohtagi pleaded to the apex court to dismiss the state government's lawsuit challenging the advisory board's order.

He told the court that he would file another lawsuit on behalf of Varun Gandhi by the evening and pleaded to the court to hear it along with other lawsuits on the issue.

The bench allowed him to file the lawsuit and assured him that it would be heard Thursday.

Varun Gandhi's parole granted by the apex court expires Thursday and his original lawsuit challenging his detention under the NSA and invocation of the security law against him was slated for hearing Thursday.

Varun Gandhi, grandson of late prime minister Indira Gandhi, faced controversy after his reported remarks against the Muslim community during election rallies.