Kerala High Court grants anticipatory bail to Lakshadweep BJP General Secretary Mohammed Kasim accused of holding national flag upside down

The Kerala High Court recently granted anticipatory bail to BJP General Secretary of Lakshadweep, Mohammed Kasim HK, accused of holding the Indian national flag upside down with green on top and saffron at the bottom [Mohammed Kasim HK v Union Territory of Lakshadweep]..Justice Viju Abraham opined that custodial interrogation was unnecessary and granted Kasim anticipatory bail subject to certain conditions and with a direction to subject himself for interrogation on August 29. "Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and considering the nature of the allegations, I feel that custodial interrogation of the petitioner may not be necessary and therefore, I am inclined to grant bail to the petitioner subject to stringent conditions. In the result, this application is allowed. It is directed that the petitioner shall surrender before the investigating officer on 29.08.2022, at 11 a.m, and subject himself for interrogation on that day," the order stated..In the event of his arrest, it was directed that he be produced before the jurisdictional magistrate on the very same day and released on bail, subject to the following conditions:Petitioner shall execute bond for a sum of ₹50,000 with two solvent sureties each for the like-sum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional court ;The petitioner shall not attempt to interfere with the investigation or to influence or intimidate any witness; The petitioner shall not involve in any other crime while on bail..Kasim is the sole accused in a crime registered at the Kavaratti Police Station alleging commission of offence punishable under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.The allegation was that some photographs circulated on WhatsApp showed him holding the national flag upside down.Before the High Court, it was contended that the offence alleged will not lie against the petitioner for the reason that the exhibition of the flag was not in a public place. It was the case of the petitioner that as part of the "Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign of the Central government, the petitioner and his wife took photographs within the precincts of the petitioner's house and posted the same in a restricted/private WhatsApp group consisting of BJP members from Lakshadweep. The fact the the flag was upside down was an inadvertent mistake and he quickly issued a public apology, it was submitted.However, Standing Counsel for Lakshadweep, opposed the grant of pre-arrest bail, pointing out that the petitioner is involved in five other criminal cases as well..The Court deemed it fit to grant him anticipatory bail but made it clear that it is within the power of the police to investigate the matter and if necessary, to effect recoveries on the information if any given by the petitioner, even when he is on bail as per the judgment of the Supreme Court in Sushila Aggarwal & Ors. v State(NCT of Delhi) & Anr. .Advocates Ajit G Anjarlekar, GP Shinod, Govind Padmanaabhan and Atul Mathews represented the petitioner.Standing Counsel for Lakshadweep, Sajith Kumar V, appeared for the Union Territory..[Read Order]