Kerala High Court denies anticipatory bail to BJP's PC George in hate speech case

The Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed BJP leader PC George's anticipatory bail plea in a hate speech case registered against him for making derogatory statements against the Muslim community. [PC George v State of Kerala & anr].Justice PV Kunhikrishnan rejected anticipatory bail to George who had made statements against the Muslim community during a televised programme.The judge has previously criticised the trend of politicians resorting to such provocative statements in a secular nation and had called for an amendment to the criminal laws to ensure stricter punishment for offenders who repeatedly engage in hate speech..George was booked after he made derogatory remarks during a televised debate on January 5.Following a complaint by the Muslim Youth League Municipal Committee, a first information report (FIR) was registered against him under Sections 196(1)(a) (promoting enmity on religious, racial, or linguistic grounds) and 299 (malicious acts to outrage religious feelings) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), along with Section 120(o) (Powers to deal with unlawful assemblies) of the Kerala Police Act.Earlier, the Kottayam Sessions Court had denied him anticipatory bail, prompting George to approach the High Court for relief..During the hearings in the case, the Court had expressed concerns over George's repeated violations of previous bail conditions, which barred him from making provocative statements.However, Senior counsel P Vijayabhanu representing George had defended his client by stating that the remarks made in the this case were made in the heat of the moment without any intent to commit an offence and added that George had apologised immediately afterwards..Advocate S Rajeev, appearing for the complainant, Muhammed Shihab opposed the anticipatory bail plea along with senior government pleader P Narayanan.They maintained that George should not be given the benefit of anticipatory bail since he has repeatedly made provocative comments, despite court orders to refrain from the same..Advocates Sruthy N Bhat, PM Rafiq, Ajeesh K Sasi, M Revikrishnan, Rahul Sunil, Sruthy KK, Sohail Ahammed Harris PP, Nanditha S, Aaron Zacharias Benny and K Aravind Menon also represented PC George..[Read Order]