Gorakhpur-based activist Parvez Parwaz serving life sentence for rape dies

Parvez Parwaz was arrested in September 2018, after a 40-year-old woman accused him and one Mehmood alias Jumman Baba of gangrape on June 3, 2018.

Gorakhpur-based activist Parvez Parwaz, who was serving life imprisonment sentence for gangrape, died in jail on Sunday. The 72-year-old former journalist was a petitioner in a case of alleged hate speech against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

“He (Parwaz) was battling health problems, including high blood pressure and diabetes. On Saturday night, he complained of breathing difficulty and was taken to the district hospital, where he died,” said Superintendent of Gorakhpur District Jail, VK Pandey.

Parwaz was arrested in September 2018, after a 40-year-old woman accused him and one Mehmood alias Jumman Baba of gangrape on June 3, 2018.

In her complaint, the woman alleged that she had gone to Jumman Baba’s house that day “seeking remedies” for her marital problems, when he took her to an isolated spot and raped her at gunpoint, along with “someone Jumman called Parvez bhai.”

In July 2020, the District and Sessions Court in Gorakhpur sentenced Parwaz to life imprisonment in the case. Parwaz faced three more criminal cases, was convicted in two, and one remained pending.

Parvaz first came to public light in 2008, when he got an FIR registered against Yogi Adityanath, the then BJP MP from Gorakhpur.

Parvaz had accused Adityanath of delivering an inflammatory speech after a Hindu youth died in a January 2007 clash during a Muharram procession.

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After the BJP came to power in UP in 2017, the state government refused to grant sanction to prosecute Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

In 2018, the Allahabad High Court upheld the state government’s decision and dismissed the case. The Supreme Court later dismissed the appeal filed against the High Court’s order.