Supreme Court grants interim bail to Muslim poet accused of insulting Hindu Gods

The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim anticipatory bail to a Muslim poet from Assam accused of posting an obscene poem about Hindu deities Lord Ram and Sita [Rakib Uddin Ahmed vs State of Assam and anr]..A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti in an ex-parte hearing sought the response of the Assam government in the matter."In the meantime, the petitioner shall not be arrested subject to the condition that he shall co-operate with the investigation," the bench directed..The bench was hearing an appeal against a February 22 Gauhati High Court order denying the accused anticipatory bail.The accused allegedly concealed his real identity, took a different name on social media and published the contentious poem in question.In the criminal complaint, the offences stated were those of impersonation, promoting religious enmity and outraging religoius sentiments.The High Court reasoned that the police had sufficient incriminating material against the poet warranting custodial interrogation. Further, the High Court had said that the accused is likely to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence."It cannot be said that the said poem has not influenced any enmity and hatred between different groups on the ground of religion ... the applicant has been absconding since the date of occurrence to avoid arrest by police", the High Court had observed. .The top court in appeal went through the public apology made by the accused, and eventually proceeded to issue notice in the matter.It also granted him interim protection from arrest.His counsel had submitted that he is a reputed poet recognised by the Sahitya Akademi with a belated criminal case against him. Further, the complaint had not disclosed that he had retracted the poem, which was actually about the lives of daily wagers, within hours and apologised..Advocates Shahrukh Alam, Akriti Chaubey, Shantanu Singh, and Sadhana Madhavan appeared for the accused-poet, one Rakib Uddin Ahmed..[Read order]