New Delhi, Jun 20 (IANS): A Delhi Court has granted bail to Bhim Sena chief Nawab Satpal Tanwar, who was arrested for his remarks against suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
A video of Tanwar had gone viral on social media in which he had announced a reward of Rs 1 crore for any person who severed her tongue for her alleged comments on Prophet Muhammad.
Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Dev Saroha of Patiala House Courts in an order passed on Sunday, granted bail to Tanwar subject to conditions, including not to leave the country without seeking prior permission of the court and furnishing a bail bond of Rs 50,000 with one 'sound surety' in the like amount.
The court said his bail is subject to the condition that whenever he is fit for investigation then he must cooperate fully with the IO.
In the order, the court noted that the FIR was registered on June 9 under section 504, 506, and 509 of IPC and section 153A was added on June 10 after an analysis of the complete video.
"This is the first thing which shows the haste in which the FIR was registered as first the FIR registered and then complete video was analyzed. The IO despite being questioned has failed to answer why he was in such a hurry to register the FIR even when he had not seen the complete video," the order read.
The court also noted the fact that the accused is a member of Bhim Sena is not relevant as Bhim Sena is not a Banned Organisation.
In the application, Tanwar stated that he is sick and infirm and his medical condition was such that if he remains in custody, he would most likely die and that as per exception to section 437 CrPC, he deserved to be released on bail.
On the other hand, the prosecution argued that the case is at the initial stage and the allegations against him are serious in nature.
Tanwar was arrested from Gurugram in Haryana on June 16.
The controversial statement made by Nupur Sharma about Prophet Muhammad had caused an international furore. Several Muslim nations, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Indonesia and Iran, as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation have officially protested and demanded an apology.
Following the uproar, the Bharatiya Janata Party suspended Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal for insulting Prophet Muhammad.
However, soon after her comments went viral, Sharma was targeted on social media and received death threats following which the police provided security for her. She had lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police on May 27 alleging that she had been receiving death threats and was the target of hatred.