Govt justifies PD Act against Raja Singh

HYDERABAD: The government on the second day of its submission on Thursday told the High Court that the detention authority had felt it necessary to impose the PD Act against Goshamahal MLA T. Raja Singh because, after the remand report of his alleged remarks against the Prophet was rejected by the lower court, there was an uproar in the city, and people came on to the streets opposing it.

In order curb the gathering storm, the detention order was necessary, Advocate General B.S. Prasad said.

He said the lower court had erred in rejecting the remand order of Raja Singh on the ground that notice under CrPC Section 41 was not served on him. This was contrary to the judgment of the Supreme Court in ‘Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar’, which stated that it was not mandatory for the police to issue the notice.

He refuted the arguments of Raja Singh’s counsel over the papers that were served to the MLA on the PD Act proceedings and said that the Mangalhat police inspector had read out the detention order to the MLA.

The court wanted to know if there was any public disorder after Raja Singh circulated a video during the Uttar Pradesh elections in February. The bench asked the Advocate-General to furnish the FIR pertaining to the incident as junior counsel representing senior counsel L. Ravichander, had opposed the AG’s contention that the MLA was unaware of the FIR registered against him in this issue.

The case was adjourned to November 8.