Giriraj Singh gets anticipatory bail in hate speech case

Zee Media Bureau/Ajith Vijay Kumar

Patna: Under fire for his alleged hate speech, BJP leader Giriraj Singh got interim relief on Thursday after a court here granted him anticipatory bail.

Singh had attracted the Election Commission’s ire for his controversial remarks during an election meeting in Jharkhand`s Deoghar district on April 19 where he said that those who opposed Narendra Modi should go to Pakistan. He had also said that the Centre was giving subsidy for export of beef while taxing those who reared cows.

Singh had applied for bail hours after a joint team of Bihar and Jharkhand police raided his house to arrest him. The court of district judge Virendra Kumar granted him bail in connection with an FIR lodged against him at the Airport police station here on 21 April under provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 and Indian Penal Code(IPC).

The FIR in Patna against Singh, a former minister in the Nitish Kumar government, was lodged by a district officer on the direction of the Election Commission which had taken note of his statement defending his controversial remarks.

However, the other two FIRs lodged against him at Deogarh and Bokaro in Jharkhand for the comments still stand and he is likely to face arrest. Singh, who had claimed that he is willing to face law if any case can be made out against him, technically remains absconding, pending his arrest or surrender. He had earlier said he will surrender before a court either in Bihar or in Jharkhand.