Gujarat Hindu right-wing activist Kajal Shingala gets bail in Una hate speech case

“We submitted to the court that the prosecution was misusing the process of law to rob Shingala of her liberty since, as per Supreme Court directives, she should have been granted bail by police at the police station itself. But she was not granted bail and instead was produced before a JMCF (judicial magistrate first class). She pleaded with the JMFC also for bail but her application was rejected and she was sent to judicial custody even though the alleged speech she made didn’t have the basic elements of the IPC sections she has been booked under. We asked the court if one can be punished before a trial has concluded one has been pronounced guilty,” Desai told The Indian Express after the court delivered its order.

Desai also underlined that Shingala had surrendered before police and that she had not evaded arrest. “We drew the court’s attention that my client is an honest and law-abiding citizen and this is the reason she surrendered after she came to know that a case had been filed against her. Nor did we object to the request of the counsel hired by members of the minority community for an opportunity to be heard when the court took up the bail application since we have nothing to hide,” said Desai. “We rejected the prosecution’s case saying she didn’t make any hate speech. All she had done was addressing a religious gathering on Ram Navami and that collocation can’t be construed as crime.”

Shingala, who is a resident of Jamnagar, surrendered before Una police on April 9 and was arrested. A couple of hours later, police produced her before a local magistrate in Una. Police had not sought her remand even as Shingala had applied for bail but her application was rejected by the magistrate and instead sent her to judicial custody. Subsequently, she was lodged in Junagadh district jail.

Earlier, the Una sessions court reserved its order after hearing Shingala’s bail application on Tuesday.

The case pertains to a speech Shingala had given at a public meeting organised by the Shree Ramkrushna Janmotsava Samiti, Una, in Tower Chowk as part of Ram Navami celebrations on March 30. Police say tension built up after her speech. To defuse the atmosphere, police called a meeting of leaders of the two communities on April 1. However, it took an ugly turn as leaders of both communities engaged in heated exchanges in the presence of police officers.

Later a mob of around 200 people assembled and allegedly indulged in violence by pelting stones and glass bottles at the homes of people and passersby. They vandalised vehicles as well.

After the violence, the Una police registered a case against 76 people and a mob of around 200 people under Indian Penal Code sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), and section 135 of the Gujarat Police Act on April 1. The following day, police booked Shingala under IPC sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).