Kerala High Court issues notice to BJP's PC George on State's plea to cancel his bail in hate speech case

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday issued notice to former MLA and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader PC George on a petition filed by the State seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to him in a 2022 hate speech case [State of Kerala v PC George].Justice Gopinath P sought George's response to the plea. .George stands accused of making hate speeches targeting the Muslim community. He was booked for offences under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintaining harmony) and 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.George was granted by the High Court on May 27, 2022.According to the State's present plea, George violated the bail conditions imposed by the High Court in its 2022 order by getting himself involved in another criminal case registered in 2025.Among the bail conditions imposed was a bar on George from making any further speech or statement that could lead to the commission of offences under Sections 153A or 295A IPC.He was also directed not to involve himself in any further criminal activity while out on bail.However, the State informed the Court on Tuesday that another case has been registered against George on January 10 this year for offences 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 (BNS), along with Section 120(o) (Powers to deal with unlawful assemblies) of the Kerala Police Act.The State contended in its plea that such conduct amounted to a blatant breach of bail terms and called for the cancellation of the relief granted in 2022. "It is submitted that the fourth condition of the Order granting bail to the respondent/accused, is that the accused/respondent shall not make any speech or statement which would tend to result in commission of offences under Sections 153A or 295A of the Indian Penal Code. And the sixth condition for granting bail is that he shall not involve in any other crime while on bail. Further it is made clear that if any of the conditions are violated the prosecution can move this Court for cancellation of bail," it was submitted..Stating that George's conduct undermined the sanctity of the Court's earlier directions, it prayed for cancellation of the bail granted to him in 2022.