The Kerala High Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of SNDP Yogam, outfit of Hindu lower caste Ezhavas, in the case registered against him under Section 153 (a) of the IPC over the allegation that he had indulged in hate speech aimed at creating enmity among religions.
The High Court instructed Vellappally to appear before the investigating officer on or before January 10 and to seek bail through normal procedure from a magistrate court on the same day itself. The case was registered against Vellappally on the basis of a complaint lodged by State Congress president VM Sudheeran.
The Ernakulam (Rural) Police had on November 30 registered an FIR against Vellappally Natesan over the alleged hate speech he had made during a reception given in Aluva near Kochi to the 13-day all-Kerala march, Samathwa Munnetta
Yatra, he was leading. Two others also had filed complaints against Vellappally over the speech.
Referring to the death of Noushad, a Muslim youth, in Kozhikode while trying to save two migrant workers from a drainage manhole, Vellappally had alleged in his speech in Aluva on November 29 that only persons belonging to particular religions were getting compensation and relief assistance in connection with accidents and tragedies.
The Government, which argued that Vellappally had tried to spread communal hatred through his speech, suffered a setback when Justice P Bhavadasan of the High Court asked it after examining the recordings of the controversial speech what was wrong in what the majority community leader had said.
The court observed that Vellappally’s speech was critical of the Government and that he had only cited an example to support his
argument, adding that the speech did not prima facie seem to be against any particular religion. Vellappally had approached the High Court seeking anticipatory bail on Monday.
Responding to the court’s decision, Vellappally, who had on December 5 declared a new party - Bharat Dharma Jana Sena - of the majority communities in the State under SNDP Yogam’s leadership, said in Kochi that the Congress-led UDF Government was not bold enough to arrest him though he had prepared his mind to be jailed.
“They (the Government) had thought that they could put me in (jail) and they had tried everything they could for that,” Vellappally said. But he took the legal recourse in order to foil those plans, he said, adding that no other PCC chief in India had ever lodged a complaint like this against any community leader.
Meanwhile, the Aluva police recorded Sudheeran’s statement in the case. His statement was recorded at Indira Bhavan, State headquarters of the Congress, considering his convenience. “Vellappally had been trying to spread communal hatred not just with his Aluva speech but throughout his Kerala march,” Sudheeran told the media.
In his speech, Vellappally had said, “The Government gave Rs 10 lakh and job to a family member of Noushad. If you want to get compensation for death in an accident, you should be a Muslim.” This kind of assistance would not come from the Government when Hindus lose lives in accidents nor would “Ministers’ armies” visit the victims’ families, he had said.
The BJP, with which the Yogam had struck an informal alliance in the recent civic poll, had pledged support for Vellappally over the issue while almost all other political parties, including the Congress and the CPI(M), demanded stern action against him, accusing him of being a pawn in the hands of the Sangh Pariwar which was allegedly trying to divide the Kerala society.