Court orders FIR for doctored video in case against Yogi Adityanath

Gorakhpur (UP): A local court has ordered an FIR against activist Pervez Parvaz for producing a doctored video as evidence in a 2007 hate speech case against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Parvaz had filed a petition against the then Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath and four others, accusing them of giving hate speech and allegedly inciting communal violence in Gorakhpur after a communal clash during Muharram procession.

The case was handed over to the CID and during investigation, Parvaz produced a DVD of the speech as evidence. The DVD was sent for forensic test and Central Forensic Science Laboratory in October 2014 found that the DVD was edited and tampered, advocate Abhishek Shukla said.

After the forensic test, CID submitted its final report, which was challenged by Parvaz in the High Court. However, the court rejected his plea and now the Chief Judicial Magistrate court of Nusrat Khan ordered an FIR against Parvaz, Shukla added.

Along with Adityanath, Parvaz had accused Shiv Pratap Shukla, who is currently junior finance minister at the Centre, current state women’s commission’s deputy chief Anju Chowdhary, former MLC YD Singh and MLA Radha Mohan Das Agarwal.

YD Singh said the DVD produced by Pervaz was edited and tampered and the forensic lab has mentioned it in its report. “The matter is very serious,” he added.

Shukla, who is Singh’s advocate, said the hate speech case was registered with Cant police station in 2008 after a court order.

In 2016, Shukla filed a petition in the court to file a case against Parvaz on basis of the forensic report.

A senior police official said they will register a case against Parvaz as soon as they receive the court order.

Parvaz is currently in jail. He was arrested in September on charges of rape, which his family has claimed to be “fake”.

A man was killed in the 2007 clash during Muharram. Following the death, Yogi Adityanath visited the area and called for revenge.