Giriraj moves HC against EC ban

Giriraj Singh, the BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Nawada, Bihar, has moved the Jharkhand high court, seeking the quashing of two criminal cases lodged against him in Bokaro and Deoghar districts for alleged making hate speeches at an election rally in Jharkhand on April 18.

Giriraj Singh, the BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Nawada, Bihar, has moved the Jharkhand high court, seeking the quashing of two criminal cases lodged against him in Bokaro and Deoghar districts for alleged making hate speeches at an election rally in Jharkhand on April 18.

Singh’s counsel Rajiv Ranjan said the court will hear the case on May 2. The Bokaro court had declined to grant anticipatory bail to Singh while the Deoghar court restrained the police from arresting him till May 3. Singh, in his petition in the high court also sought anticipatory bail.

It was alleged that Singh had said at an election meeting under Harla police station in Bokaro district on April 18 that those who oppose BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would have to find a place in Pakistan.

Three days later, on April 21, an FIR was lodged against Singh in Bokaro under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including one that pertains to promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and for committing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony.

The FIR also charged him under a section of the IPC pertaining to uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person, and under provisions of the Representation of the People Act. Another FIR was lodged against him by the Deogarh district police on the same charges that day.

Soon after lodging of the FIR in Bokaro, the police procured a warrant to arrest Singh from a Bokaro district court and raided his residence in Patna in vain to arrest him.