Bengaluru: Naveen, Pulakeshi Nagar legislator Akhanda Srinivas Murthy’s nephew who was arrested for uploading a derogatory post on Prophet Muhammed, was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court on Thursday, October 22.
The conditions of Naveen’s bail are standard and require him to not leave Bengaluru, appear at the jurisdictional police station on the 1st of every month, not tamper with evidence, and not post similar comments on social media.
It is alleged that his post provoked the violence that broke out in Bengaluru on the night of August 11.
Although Naveen was granted bail on October 14, he will be released after posting a bond of Rs 2 lakhs.
Opposing the bail, the prosecution had argued that “there is prima facie material as against the accused for having been involved in a serious offense, which may affect the peace and tranquility of the society as a whole, if he is released on bail”. They also argued that there is a “threat” to Naveen’s safety and that he was a “habitual offender”.
Naveen has seven prior criminal cases registered against him and while granting bail, Justice BA Patil noted that the accused was acquitted of all charges in all seven prior cases.
Claiming that his client was innocent in the Bengaluru violence case, Naveen’s counsel argued that he had “merely forwarded the post” and deleted it soon after. He argued that his client is innocent and that a false complaint was registered against him due to political reasons. He further stated that if Naveen’s bail was rejected merely because his life was under “threat”, it would affect his fundamental right since the only allegation against him is that he posted a few derogatory remarks on his Facebook wall.
Meanwhile, the FIR registered against Naveen has sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the bases of religion) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act to outrage religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code, although sanction hasn’t been taken from the court to prosecute him on these charges. However, the prosecution has applied for a sanction which has not been granted yet.
