2016 Quran desecration case: AAP MLA Naresh Yadav, another convict exchanged calls, SMSes before sacrilege, finds court

Telephonic conversation, SMSes and confession by Vijay Kumar, who was held guilty by a lower court, led to the conviction and arrest of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Delhi’s Mehrauli Naresh Yadav in the 2016 Quran desecration case.

On June 24, 2016, torn pages of the Quran were found scattered on a road in Malerkotla. This led to violence and burning of vehicles by an angry mob. Four persons, including the AAP MLA, were arrested in the case.

A court in Malerkotla on Saturday awarded a two-year sentence to Yadav in the desecration case. The court of additional district and sessions judge Parminder Singh Grewal convicted Yadav in the case on Friday and pronounced the verdict on Saturday.

A fine of ₹11,000 was also imposed on Yadav. The court upheld the two-year sentence of two others — Vijay Kumar and Gaurav Kumar — and acquittal of another accused Nand Kishore by a lower court.

Yadav was convicted under Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the court’s judgment, there were eight text messages and three telephonic conversations between Yadav and Vijay Kumar between June 16 and June 23, 2016. The last conversation between both took place at 9.01pm on June 23, hours before the sacrilege.

The desecration took place months ahead of the February 2017 assembly polls in Punjab.

“The court is of the considered view that the occurrence in question (sacrilege) occurred on 24.06.2016, whereas the aforesaid exchange of telephonic calls and messages between ‘the appellant/convict Vijay Kumar and the respondent/accused Naresh Yadav took place on 20.06.2016 and 23.06.2016 soon before the sacrilege on 24.06.2016, which clearly established and proved on record that Yadav and Vijay Kumar were in constant touch with each other just before the incident,” reads the judgment passed by additional district and sessions judge Parminder Singh Grewal.

Besides the telephonic conversation, the other evidence that led to the conviction of the AAP MLA was confession made by the convict Vijay under Section 164 of CrPC recorded by the chief judicial magistrate, Sangrur, whereby he had not only confessed to the crime but also confessed that he had done so at the instance of Yadav.

In his confessional statement, Vijay said he knew Yadav since 2000 as they were pursuing English speaking course, at British Counsel, Delhi. Vijay confessed that he met Yadav on June 21, 2016, and the latter suggested that if religious disturbance was created in Malerkotla, it could be politically beneficial to them. Vijay suggested if torn pages of Quran were scattered in Malerkotla, it would flare up the religious feelings and they (Naresh Yadav and his party) can involve the BJP government in all these cases.