The Hindu : Togadia faces new charge of `conspiracy to wage war'

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Thursday, Apr 17, 2003

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Togadia faces new charge of `conspiracy to wage war'

By Our Staff Correspondent

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad international secretary, Praveen Togadia, being taken to court for hearing on his bail application in Ajmer on Wednesday . — PTI

JAIPUR APRIL 16. The Congress(I)-led Government in Rajasthan today slapped the charge of "conspiracy for sedition" on the Vishwa Hindu Parishad general secretary, Praveen Togadia, after which a city court in Ajmer rejected his bail application and extended his judicial custody till April 30. The accusation was not made in the FIR registered against the firebrand VHP leader.

Mr. Togadia — who was arrested on April 13 near Ajmer on charges of violating prohibitory orders and the ban on distribution of `trishuls' — now faces the new charge under Section 121-A of Indian Penal Code for "conspiracy to wage war" against the State and overawe it by criminal force. He has been lodged in the Central Jail in Ajmer since Monday.

The offence is punishable by life imprisonment and its trial can be held only in the sessions court. The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Indu Pareek — before whom Mr. Togadia was produced amid tight security this morning — rejected his bail application observing that it was not in her jurisdiction to deal with the case and only the Sessions Judge could hear it.

Mr. Togadia was given time till April 30 to move the bail application in the sessions court and his judicial remand was extended till that date. The ACJM pronounced her two-page verdict a few hours after reserving the order following the completion of arguments by the prosecution and the defence counsel.

Earlier, the VHP leader was remanded to judicial custody till today by the Judicial Magistrate, Lata Gaur, on Monday and was ordered to be produced before the ACJM.

The prosecution submitted the copies of Mr. Togadia's speeches in a "Dharma Sabha'' at Subhash Udyan in Ajmer and elsewhere to the court to prove that he had challenged the authority of the Government and conspired to subvert the state.

He also faces the charges of distributing modified `trishuls' and "inciting communal passions."

In addition to Section 121-A of I.P.C., the Government has framed charges under Sections 117 (abetting offence by public), 295-A (insulting religious beliefs of any class), and 505 (making statements causing public mischief) of the IPC against Mr. Togadia. These charges were absent in the original FIR.

The senior VHP leader, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, who is in Ajmer, reacted sharply to the State Government's move and said the sedition charge was levelled as an afterthought. ''The Government's intention in applying the new sections is to ensure that Mr. Togadia is not released on bail,'' he told reporters. Mr. Togadia's counsel, Onkar Singh Lakhawat, told The Hindu over telephone that bail was denied to his client on "technical grounds and not on merit''. He said the addition of Section 121-A, which was neither mentioned in the FIR nor communicated to the court during the remand proceedings on April 14, was an "illegal act'' aimed at keeping Mr. Togadia behind bars.

Mr. Lakhawat, who is also the vice-president of the BJP State unit, said he would not move the sessions court against the ACJM's order ''as of now'' and the next course of action would be decided by the VHP leaders. The VHP president, Ashok Singhal, is expected to reach Ajmer on April 18 to discuss the future strategy.

Meanwhile, the three office-bearers of VHP's Ajmer unit — Sarveshwar Agrawal, Gopi Krishna Shriya and J.L. Chaudhary — who were arrested on the same charges as those framed against Mr. Togadia, were today granted bail but were rearrested under Section 121-A of IPC as soon as they were released.

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