Former Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Rohit Arya has been appointed as Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) party's coordinator for the state's ‘One Nation, One Election’ committee. BJP State head Vishnu Dutt Sharma appointed Justice Arya as coordinator along with Pushyamitra Bhargava. Arya joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last July, three months after he retired. The former judge presided over several cases that grabbed headlines. In 2021, he denied bail to comedians Munawar Faruqui and Nalin Yadav, who were accused of hurting religious sentiments and violating the Covid-19 protocol during a New Year event during a show in Indore. In his order, Justice Arya had observed that the evidence collected till now shows that “outraging religious feelings of a class of citizens of India with deliberate intendment” were made by the applicants. The court emphasised the Constitutional duty to promote harmony and the spirit of brotherhood, stating: “The State must endeavour to ensure that this ecosystem and sustenance of coexistence in our welfare society is not polluted by negative forces". In 2020, Justice Arya granted bail to a man accused of outraging the modesty of a woman on the condition that he present himself to the complainant on Raksha Bandhan so she could tie him a "rakhi" to signify a sibling relationship. The accused was also required to promise to protect the complainant. This decision was met with significant criticism and was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court, which issued directives for lower courts on handling bail petitions in cases related to crimes against women.
