Thiruvananthapuram: A court on Monday, August 10, granted bail to right-wing political commentator TG Mohandas, who was arrested by police over remarks he allegedly made in a YouTube video about women student protesters in New Delhi over the NEET paper leak.
Thiruvananthapuram Additional Chief Judicial First Class Magistrate Mithun Gopi GS granted bail to Mohandas when he was produced for remand proceedings.
Mohandas’ arrest was recorded on Monday morning after he was taken into custody on Sunday evening, August 9, from his residence in Mattancherry, Kochi.
He was charged with various offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Information Technology Act, and Kerala Police Act.
When Mohandas (71) was produced before the court, his counsel filed a bail petition.
The Thiruvananthapuram Cyber Police probing the case informed the court that it has invoked additional charges for any word, sound, gesture or object intended to insult a woman’s modesty and for criminal intimidation with severe threats.
The prosecution sought custody of the accused for further investigation and raised apprehension that he was an influential person who would influence witnesses and tamper with evidence if released on bail.
However, the defence cited his age and health condition and submitted that all the offences charged against Mohandas were bailable.
The defence counsel pointed out that the police have not filed a separate custody application.
Similarly, the counsel submitted that even though 11 days had passed since the case was registered, Mohandas had not been served any notice to appear before the police as part of the investigation
After hearing both sides, the court granted him bail.
The court directed Mohandas to appear before the investigating officer for three days as part of the probe.
He was also directed to appear before police whenever his presence was required.
The court further directed him not to repeat a similar offence while on bail.
The case was registered following a complaint alleging that videos uploaded on Mohandas’ YouTube channel, ‘Pathrika’, were intended to disturb public peace and create fear and unrest among the public.
In the video, Mohandas allegedly said the Delhi students’ protest “could lead to incidents of gang rape” and claimed that there would be no complaints because “those attending the protest like rape and there are girls who enjoy being raped.”
He further claimed that although some people would be killed or permanently injured, the situation would be brought under control within hours and the bodies shifted to hospitals.
Following the arrest, police team collected information about his YouTube account and seized digital devices allegedly used to create and upload the video, officials said.
When produced before the court, SFI activists gathered outside, shouted slogans and raised posters against Mohandas.
Meanwhile, early in the day, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders S Suresh, AN Radhakrishnan and Shone George met Mohandas at the police camp.
Speaking to reporters, BJP state general secretary S Suresh said the party did not endorse Mohandas’ remarks.
“We are not endorsing what he said. Everyone has the freedom to criticise his words, and he accepts that freedom of criticism. Ours is not a state where the freedom to criticise, oppose, or respond in return has been denied,” he said.
Suresh alleged that state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had allowed those who threatened to assassinate the Prime Minister to walk freely while a case was filed against Mohandas.
“Moreover, there is another objective behind this: Ministers, including the Chief Minister, are facing a situation today where people are reacting against them such that they cannot even step into disaster-affected areas,” he said.
“So, when a situation arose where the public was reacting against an utterly incompetent and incapable government that failed to do anything to people affected by the heavy rain and floods, and failed to locate the lost fishermen, these political tactics are being deployed to divert attention from the core issue. There is no other way to put it politically,” he said.
BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Mohandas’ arrest was aimed at diverting attention from the alleged poor performance of the state government.
“This government’s performance graph is going down. They are arresting him just to divert attention somehow away from that graph. I do not doubt saying that this is double standards. Regarding what he said, we wish to state clearly that we are 100 per cent against it,” he said.
Senior Communist Party of India (M) leader EP Jayarajan said the public could understand the policy of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Sangh Parivar and BJP from their efforts to protect Mohandas.
“How can a political party justify those leaders and organise programmes for them? If they can do that, that is their standard,” he said.
Jayarajan alleged that the state government decided to arrest Mohandas out of fear of protests.
The CPI(M) leader also alleged that the delay in apprehending Mohandas indicated that there had been an “adjustment” with the RSS and BJP.
“What I feel is that an adjustment has taken place somewhere with the RSS and the BJP. Otherwise, why weren’t they arrested earlier? How many days has it been?” he said.
