SC Grants Bail to YSR Congress MP Raghu Rama Krishna Raju

Raju was arrested on the charges of sedition and promotion of communal hatred through his speech last week.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

The Supreme Court on Friday, 21 May, granted bail to rebel YSR Congress Party MP K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju.

The Narasapuram MP had been apprehended by Guntur CID on 14 May at his Hyderabad residence. He was arrested on the charges of sedition and promotion of communal hatred through his speech.

The MP’s legal counsel Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, in his statement before the court, argued that Raju’s speeches contained mere criticism of the state’s actions and cannot be misconstrued as sedition.

Rohatgi also suggested that the accused had been subjected to custodial harassment, and made a plea for the transferring his case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

According to a report by Live Law, the bench, comprising Justice Vineet Saran and Justice BR Gavai, while granting bail, noted that there was no requirement for custodial interrogation of the accused since all of his statements of are available on record.

The bench also took into account Raju's health condition, considering the possibility of his ill-treatment in police custody, as suggested by a medical report obtained from Army Hospital, Secundarabad. The political leader had also undergone heart surgery last year.

The bench, while granting bail, stipulated that MP Raju refrain from making press statements or appearing for interviews before the media for the duration of the investigation.

The petitioner has also been asked to submit a personal bond amounting to Rs 1 lakh, in addition to providing two securities of the same amount before the trial court by next week.

(With inputs from Live Law.)