Telangana HC grants bail to state BJP chief

Hyderabad, Jan 5:  Telangana High Court on Wednesday granted bail to BJP state chief and MP Bandi Sanjay who was arrested three days ago for staging a protest defying Covid curbs.

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan ordered the release of Sanjay on personal surety.

The high court set aside the orders of a Karimnagar court, which had sent the MP to judicial custody for 14 days.

Sanjay was arrested on the night of January 2 in Karimnagar when he was staging a protest against a government order relating to transfer of government employees and teachers. Police foiled the protest for defying curbs in view of Covid-19 situation.

During the hearing of Sanjay's bail petition, the court noted that he was arrested at 10.50 p.m. and an FIR was registered at 11.15 p.m. It asked how the FIR was registered in such a short time.

The high court also sought an explanation as to why section 333 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was added to the FIR. It noted that there is no medical report about the injuries to policemen in the remand report submitted to the lower court.

The high court issued a notice to the state government to submit all the details and adjourned the hearing to February 7.

Bandi Sanjay and 16 others were booked by the police under eight sections for violation of Disaster Management Act and other charges, including preventing policemen for discharging their duties and causing injuries to them.

The arrests had led to strong protests from BJP. The party had called for state-wide protests for 14 days.

BJP's national president J. P. Nadda had led a protest in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, BJP leader in charge of party affairs in Telangana Tarun Chug welcomed the high court order and termed it a "slap" on the face of TRS government. He said the party was not afraid of false cases and arrests and will continue to fight on behalf of people.