The Madras High Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members Gayathri Raguram, Kalidoss and M. Kabilan in a rioting case booked against them following a scuffle with Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) cadres when the latter’s leader Thol Thirumavalavan garlanded B.R. Ambedkar’s statue at Koyambedu in Chennai on April 14.
Justice G. Jayachandran granted the relief and directed the petitioners to appear before the investigating officer every day. In her petition, Ms. Raguram said the party cadres had assembled at the venue at the instructions of their party president K. Annamalai. She claimed that a false complaint had been lodged against her since she had a “political fight” with the VCK leader on the social media.
However, Government Advocate S. Santhosh said, the police had allotted different time slots for the political parties to garland the statue of Ambedkar, in view of his birth anniversary, to avoid any kind of conflict between them. But the BJP cadres did not adhere to the time slot. They entered the venue even before the VCK cadres could disperse after garlanding the statue, he told the court.
This led to a scuffle with iron rods and flag masts being thrown besides stone pelting and all of it was captured on camera, he said. He also said, three persons had suffered injuries and hence the police had booked the individuals under Sections 147 (rioting), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt using dangerous weapons) and 506 part II (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
