Chetan Kumar, the Kannada actor who was earlier arrested for tweeting about one of the judges hearing the ongoing Hijab case in Karnataka, was granted bail on Friday by a magistrate court.
However, the actor will remain in judicial custody until at least Monday pending procedural work, his wife Megha S said on his Facebook page.
Chetan was arrested on Tuesday after the police had taken suo moto cognisance of his February 16 tweet, in which he had questioned whether Justice Krishna Dixit of the Karnataka High Court was the right person to be hearing the Hijab case.
Sharing one of his own tweets from two years ago, about Justice Dixit granting bail to a rape accused on the grounds that the victim had not behaved as an “Indian woman” who was “ravished” would, Chetan wrote, “This is a tweet I wrote nearly two years ago regarding a Karnataka High Court decision. Justice Krishna Dixit made such disturbing comments in a rape case. Now this same judge is determining whether hijabs are acceptable or not in government schools. Does he have the clarity required?”
For this tweet, the actor was booked under IPC sections 505 (2) (statement intended to incite a class or community to commit offence against another) and 504 (intentionally insulting, thereby giving provocation to any person to break public peace).
Soon after his arrest, Megha went live on his Facebook page from Sheshadripuram Police Station and alleged that Chetan was missing. “No one informed us, his phone is switched off, so is our gunman’s. He is a missing person right now. The police officials say that he is not in their custody at the moment but they have escorted him elsewhere for inquiry purposes,” she said.
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The actor’s bail hearing took place on Friday and the magistrate court granted him bail subject to Chetan producing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each. According to The News Minute, the bail order read, “The accused shall not commit an offence similar to the offence of which he is accused. He shall not make, publish, post, or circulate any derogatory/provocative statements in any manner so as to disturb communal harmony and public peace.” The order also directed Chetan to cooperate with the investigation and attend all hearings.
Megha confirmed the bail hearing on Chetan’s Facebook page. She also wrote that due to pending technical formalities and owing to court closure over the weekend, the actor would not be released until Monday.