HC refuses to restrain police from arresting Omkar Balaji

Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira simply adjourns his anticipatory bail plea by a week without granting any interim protection

The Madras High Court on Wednesday refused to restrain Coimbatore city police from arresting Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) leader K. Arjun Sampath’s son and the party’s youth wing leader A.S. Omkar Balaji in a case booked for having allegedly threatened to chop off journalist Nakkheeran R. Gopal’s tongue.

Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira rejected his plea for grant of interim protection against arrest. The judge simply adjourned his anticipatory bail plea by a week and asked Government Advocate (criminal side) S. Santhosh to produce a transcript of the objectionable speech delivered by the petitioner on October 27.

When the advance bail plea was heard on November 7, the judge had summoned the petitioner and wanted to know whether he would be willing to tender an apology. Accordingly, Mr. Balaji appeared before the court on Wednesday and his counsel stated that he had filed an affidavit tendering unconditional apology.

On being asked how could he make such speeches at a protest meet held at a public place, the petitioner told the court that he had uttered them “in the heat of the moment.” Not convinced with the reason cited by him, the judge told the petitioner that responsible political leaders should not speak in such a way.

Subsequently, on going through the affidavit of apology, the judge found the petitioner to have mentioned that he was apologising on court directions. Not willing to accept the affidavit, the judge made it clear that he had not issued any direction but only wanted to know whether the petitioner was willing to apologise on his own.

The judge gave a few hours’ time for the petitioner to file a better affidavit. However, the petitioner did not file any such affidavit and hence the judge simply adjourned the anticipatory bail plea to November 19 for submission of the transcript of his speech.

Earlier, Mr. Santhosh told the court that HMK had organised a protest meeting near Racecourse station in Coimbatore on October 27 to condemn those who oppose Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation and the Isha Yoga Centre located under Velliangiri foothills.

HMK president Mr. Sampath as well as the present anticipatory bail petitioner had participated in the protest. An autorickshaw dealer, also a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, happened to hear the speech when he was on the way for his personal work and lodged a police complaint the next day.

According to the complainant, A. Abdul Jaleel, the present petitioner had warned Mr. Gopal that he would be dragged to the streets like a dog, handcuffed and locked up in prison after the DMK loses power in the State. He also accused the petitioner of having threatened to chop off the journalist’s tongue.

Stating that the charges against the petitioner were serious, the Government Advocate urged the court to dismiss the anticipatory bail plea.

Published - November 13, 2024 10:17 pm IST