BJP MLA T Raja Singh was released from judicial custody on Wednesday after the Telangana High Court set aside his arrest under the Preventive Detention Act (PD Act). He was arrested by Hyderabad police on August 25 over remarks he allegedly made against the Prophet. Singh was released with the conditions that he should not take out any procession, should not speak to the media, and should desist from making any inflammatory speech on social media, his lawyers L Ravichander and Karuna Sagar said. Singh was first arrested on August 23 after he sparked controversy with his alleged remarks against the Prophet in a video that he had posted on social media in response to comedian Munawar Faruqui’s show held in Hyderabad. After his comments created a furore, the BJP suspended him from the party. The Hyderabad police immediately arrested him, but the 14th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court rejected the police’s remand application, saying that they did not serve a notice under CrPC Section 41 before arresting Singh. On August 24, police issued two notices to Singh under CrPC Section 41 over remarks against the Prophet that he allegedly made in April, and asked him to appear for questioning. Singh had allegedly made these remarks while at an event to celebrate Ramnavami. Singh was booked under IPC Sections 295(a) (deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings); 153(a) (promoting enmity among people of different religions); 505(1)(b) (intent to cause fear in public) and 505 (issuing statements promoting enmity among religions). On August 25, the Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s Task Force arrested him in connection with his April remarks and invoked the PD Act against him. A local court first sent him to 14 days judicial custody which was extended until Wednesday while Singh appealed before the PD Act Advisory Board. On October 10, Singh also replied to the showcause notice issued to him by member secretary of the BJP's central disciplinary committee, Om Pathak, on August 23 for his comments. In his reply, Singh said he did not violate the BJP’s constitution, and defended the video he posted on social media. “I made a video to make people understand how Munawar Faruqui does his show. I neither belittled any relgion nor did I criticise the gods of any religions in my video. I did not use abusive or harsh language. I didn’t mention the name of any individual in my video. I didn’t deliberately hurt the sentiments of any religion. As directed by the MIM, the TRS government filed a false case against me intentionally. I have been detained in jail by invoking the PD Act. In my video, I only imitated Munawar Faruqui, that too, based on information provided on Google. I neither hurt any religion’s sentiments nor criticised any religion. Hence, I believe that I have not violated Rule XXV 10(a) of the constitution of BJP as mentioned in the disciplinary notice,” he said in his reply. The BJP has not yet responded to this.
