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Raja Singh was lodged in Cherlapally Central Prison since August 23 after he was arrested under the PD Act. A bench of justices A Abhishek Reddy and J Sridevi said this was not a fit case for detention under the Act.
The bench, however, directed the MLA to be cautious and asked his supporters not to celebrate his release and organise rallies. The judges also asked him not to make any inflammatory speeches. “He should not do anything that disturbs the communal harmony. He should not take to social media to spread any hatred,” the bench said.
Soon after the HC order, Raja Singh tweeted: “Dharam ki vijay huyi. Phir aap ki seva mein upastith hun. Jai Shri Ram (Victory to dharma. Once again, I am back at your service. Jai Shri Ram).”
Police filed an FIR in August this year after the BJP MLA allegedly made incendiary remarks against the Prophet. Several complaints were filed against him for hurting the religious sentiments of Muslim minorities. Protests swept across the Old City, with Islamists calling for his “beheading”, while the BJP suspended the legislator later.
The HC was hearing a plea of the MLA’s wife, Usha Bai, who filed a habeas corpus plea and questioned the the PD Act. The bench, which had summoned the records pertaining to the detention of the MLA under the PD Act, agreed with senior counsel L Ravi Chander who argued on behalf of the MLA.
“Most of the norms pertaining to the PD Act were not followed properly in respect of the detainee,” the senior counsel said. “The material that formed the basis for the decision to detain the legislator should be conveyed to him in a language that he can understand. But this was not done,” he argued. Detaining a legislator under the PD Act required evidence and the material furnished by police was either grossly inadequate or irrelevant to the current context,” he said.
Advocate general BS Prasad brought to the notice of the court how BJP itself found the MLA’s speeches “untenable” and distanced itself from the damage his speeches were causing by suspending him from the party.
“The legislator has become a habitual offender and is threatening that he would repeat the same offending acts. Such persons should not be allowed to go scot-free and there should be a fear of law in everyone,” the AG said, defending the invoking of the PD Act by the government.
At this, Ravi Chander said the government spoke of 100 cases against Raja Singh, but its PD Act papers dealt with only three cases and that police could not make a distinction between a law and order problem and a challenge to public order. The HC, however, set aside both the orders of the primary authority and the appellate board under the PD Act.
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