MP HC’s Unique Bail for Pro-Pakistan Slogan Accused

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh high court has granted bail to a man, accused of raising pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans, by putting the condition that he saluted the tricolour in a police station twice a month by chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

The single bench court of Justice Dinesh Kumar Paliwal, while granting bail to the accused in the case one Faizan on Tuesday, ordered that ‘He (Faizan) shall continuously mark his presence before police station Misrod, Bhopal, between 10 A.M to 12 ‘O’ clock of the day on every 1st and 4th Tuesday of month till final conclusion of trial and salute the National Flag unfurled on the building of the police station 21 (twenty-one) time raising the slogan “Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

The court has also ordered that the accused be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000.

Police here filed an FIR against Faizan on May 17 under section 153B (making or publishing assertions that are prejudicial to national integration) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and held him in detention after a video, in which he was heard shouting ‘Pakistan zindabad, Hindustan murdabad’ slogan, went viral.

The prosecution in the case argued that by shouting slogan of ‘Pakistan zindabad, Hindustan murdabad’, the accused attempted to promote enmity between different groups and his act amounted to prejudicial to maintenance of harmony and national integration.

The prosecution opposed the bail prayer arguing that the accused is a habitual offender and 14 criminal cases have been registered against him.

The accused is openly shouting slogans against the country in which he was born and brought up and if he is not happy and satisfied ‘in this nation’, he may opt to live in the country of his choice for which he raised the slogan of ‘zindabad’, the prosecution said.

The defence counsel has submitted that his client has been falsely implicated in the case. The defence counsel has however fairly stated that in the video, the applicant (accused) is seen shouting the slogan ‘Pakistan Zindabad, India murdabad’.