Rediff

Lucknow, Apr 28: The fate of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi will be determined by a special panel of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday afternoon, when its Advisory Board takes the final call on the National Security Act slapped on him earlier this month.

Even as the meeting of the board was stated to be "absolutely confidential", sources confirmed that Varun would appear before the board at about 3.30 pm.

The three-member board, headed by Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) Senior Judge Pradeep Kant, comprises two retired judges.

The board is empowered to approve or revoke the government's order to book Varun under the stringent law. Varun was charged for making highly inflammatory and rabid anti-Muslim utterances that had allegedly disturbed public order in Pilibhit from where he was contesting the Lok Sabha election.

The verdict of the advisory board is final. If the board chooses to revoke the NSA, Varun would be set free with immediate effect.

The law does not permit any NSA detainee to be accompanied by a lawyer before the advisory board, but he could be joined by any other person. Varun is likely to be joined by a non-lawyer friend.

Invoked by the Pilibhit administration and approved by the state government, the NSA order was also duly ratified by the Union government. Varun was later granted parole by the Supreme Court after giving a written undertaking that he would not repeat his objectionable utterances. The parole expires on May 1.