A Judicial Magistrate's Court in Pune has granted bail to 'godman' Kalicharan Maharaj alias Abhijit Srag in a case of alleged inflammatory speech and hurting religious sentiments. The alleged hate speech was delivered during 'Shiv Pratap Din' program on December 19, 2021, organised to celebrate the killing of Adilshahi commander Afzal Khan by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 1659.
Judicial Magistrate (First Class) MA Shaikh observed in the order that there was no recovery required to be made from him, the sections he was charged with were punishable for upto three years and therefore no physical custody was required.
"It will take time to complete the investigation. Till then, accused cannot be kept behind the bar, by putting some conditions, accused can be released on bail," the order reads.
Kalicharan will, however, remain in custody for now as he has been arrested in a case in Chhattisgarh for criticising Mahatma Gandhi where his bail application is now pending before the High Court and Thane police too has registered a case against him.
He has been charged under the Indian Penal Code sections 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reliÂgious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reliÂgious beliefs), 298 (words and acts to outrage religious feelings) and 505(2) (statements promoting enmity between classes).
Right-wing leader Milind Ekbote, Captain (retired) Digendra Kumar and others have also been accused in the case registered at Khadak police station in Pune.
He was remanded in one day's police custody after being brought to Pune and on Thursday, he was remanded in judicial custody after the police did not seek further custody. He then sought to be released on bail, which was granted on Friday.
Advocate Amol Dange, appearing for Kalicharan, sought bail mainly on the ground that the maximum punishment for all the offences he was charged with was only 3 years and therefore the police should have followed the mandate of section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code as laid down by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar's judgment. He contended that the arrest was illegal as no notice was issued to his client under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure which made the arrest illegal and that the FIR was registered after a delay of over 7 days.
The JMFC's order records that the bail application was "vehemently opposed by the public prosecutor" as well as the Investigation Officer. The prosecution contended that the offences against Kalicharan were non-bailable and serious in nature, that there were chances of him absconding, he could misuse his liberty by trying to create chaos leading to issues of law and order and that he may tamper with the witnesses and commit further crime.
The court, however, granted him bail for Rs. 25,000 with one or two sureties of the same amount and directed him to co-operate with the investigation and attend the concerned police station once a month till filing of the charge sheet.
