A sessions court in Kerala’s Ernakulam on Saturday dismissed an anticipatory bail plea in a hate speech case filed by senior politician and BJP ally P.C. George, who had been arrested and released a few days ago in a similar case in Thiruvananthapuram on the condition that he would not make inflammatory comments.
Ernakulam police had booked him for hate speech on May 10, two days after he made the offensive remarks against the minority community while addressing a gathering in connection with a temple festival in Vennala.
The case was registered under IPC Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups of people) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings).
Among the controversial remarks George, leader of the Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) and former seven-time MLA, made at the temple gathering was one against subsidy for pilgrims to Mecca.
“Muslims get subsidy to go to Mecca but Hindus get fleeced by the KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Service) services from Pamba to Sabarimala (hill shrine),” George had said.
Thiruvananthapuram police had arrested George on May 1 in a similar case of hate speech before a magistrate granted him conditional bail, restraining him from making inflammatory comments and influencing witnesses.
While Saturday’s rejection of anticipatory bail paves the way for George’s arrest, Ernakulam police commissioner C.H. Nagaraju told reporters that they would rather wait for the outcome of the prosecution plea to cancel the politician’s bail in the Thiruvananthapuram hate speech case.
“We are waiting for the court order on the prosecution plea to cancel his bail,” the officer said, referring to the order set to be pronounced on Monday.
The prosecution had approached the Thiruvananthapuram court seeking cancellation of George’s bail for flouting the conditions that included refraining from making hate speeches.
Nagaraju said the investigation in the Ernakulam case would also look into a conspiracy angle. “We are considering a conspiracy angle in this case. We need to check who abetted and invited him,” he said, citing the last-minute invitation extended to George to address the temple gathering.
“In our objection (to the anticipatory bail plea) we had pointed out that he was invited at the last minute although he did not figure in the brochure (for the event) and that the organisers already knew about his other case,” the police commissioner said.
The accused politician’s son, Shaun George, said his father would move Kerala High Court on Monday seeking anticipatory bail in the Ernakulam case. “The police took it out of context by quoting a short video clip from a 34-minute speech to book my father. I am sure we will get justice from the high court,” he said.
The Thiruvananthapuram police had filed a case against George Sr over his remarks at the Ananthapuri Hindu Maha Sammelan, a Sangh parivar event, in the Kerala capital.
In a tirade against Muslim traders, George had accused them of stealthily adding a drug to make their customers from other religions impotent. “If what I heard is true… they drop something into tea and you’ll become impotent. That is, sterilise men and women. That way they aim to seize India,” George had said.
The seven-time MLA is a former chief whip of the Congress-led United Democratic Front government headed by Oommen Chandy from 2011 to 2015. But George left the Kerala Congress (M) to form the Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) party in 2017. He lost the 2021 state polls.
