Varun Gandhi released from Etah jail

Etah (Uttar Pradesh), Apr.16 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the party's candidate for the Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency, Varun Gandhi, was released from the Etah District Jail shortly after 6.15 p.m. on Thursday, a day after giving an undertaking to the Supreme Court and the Etah District Magistrate that he would not make any more communally sensitive or hatred-filled speeches during the interim bail period of two weeks.

Apart from the undertakings, Gandhi alos furnished a personal bond of Rs.50,000. He left the jail in a convoy of four cars , accompanied by his mother and former Union Minister Menaka gandhi and his supporters.

Unconfirmed reports said that he would be undertaking a roadshow from Etah to Bareilly.

Earlier, the Supreme Court ordered the release of Gandhi on parole for a period of two weeks.

Gandhi was booked under the National Security Act (NSA) for an alleged hate speech delivered in his parliamentary constituency of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh last month.

The release of Gandhi came even as the Uttar Pradesh Government, which is headed by Chief Minister Mayawati, said that it would go ahead with a hearing of the NSA case against Gandhi. The State Government said that it has instructed an advisory board to take the matter up. The advisory board is scheduled to meet on April 18.

Reacting to his release, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that Varun Gandhi had received his comeuppance, and been been reduced from "hero to zero" by the apex court. He said that Varun would have to be very careful about what he would do or say in the weeks that he would be out of jail, and added that he would have to operate under very strict guidelines.

Gandhi is to file his nomination in Pilbhit on April 21. (ANI)