Hours after he was arrested by the Chennai police, DMK’s Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and organising secretary, RS Bharathi was granted interim bail till May 31.
According to reports, the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Egmore granted the bail to RS Bharathi after DMK’s legal team led by advocate and Rajya Sabha MP, P Wilson filed for bail. The court granted interim bail to Bharathi till May 31 and has ordered him to surrender on June 1, after which the proceedings will be regularised.
“We argued that RS Bharathi had expressed regret for his remark after the controversy. There is no need for them to arrest him now in the middle of COVID-19. The petitioner (RS Bharathi) has been constantly filing cases of corruption against the Chief Minister and hence he has been arrested on vindictive basis. Custodial interrogation is unnecessary amid coronavirus pandemic,” P Wilson told reporters outside the court.
RS Bharathi was arrested early on Saturday morning for his speech where he passed derogatory remarks against Dalit judges. The controversial speech was made by him on February 15, 2020 in a study circle meeting at Anbagam — the DMK Youth Wing headquarters in Chennai. Following this, a case was filed against him at the Teynampet police station under sections 3(1)(u) [by words either written or spoken or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise promotes or attempts to promote feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will against members of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes] and 3(1)(v) [by words either written or spoken or by any other means disrespects any late person held in high esteem by members of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes] of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
In his speech on the significance of the Dravidian movement, Bharathi had said that the appointment of Dalits as high court judges was because of the ‘alms’ put by the movement.
“No ‘Harijan’ (an abusive term for Dalits) has become the judge of the High Court in Madhya Pradesh. But in Tamil Nadu, after Kalaignar became the Chief Minister, A Varadarajan (became the first Dalit judge in Madras High Court). After him, around seven or eight from the Adi Dravidar community became judges in the High Court. This was alms given by the Dravidian movement,” Bharathi had said.