A magisterial court in Gandhinagar on Wednesday refused to grant bail to a Jaipur-based activist, who allegedly issued defamatory statements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that were published in a local vernacular weekly newspaper in Gujarat.
Sanjay Garg, a resident of Jaipur, who is a social activist and vice-president of Rajasthan-based Swatantra Bharat Party, was picked up from his residence in Jaipur on June 4 by Gandhinagar Sector 21 police personnel and brought to Gandhinagar after the vernacular newspaper, Padkar News, allegedly carried a report on May 30.
Following the magisterial court’s refusal to release Garg on bail, Garg moved a bail application on Wednesday before a Gandhinagar Sessions Court.
The sessions court is expected to take up the application for hearing on June 10. Police have booked Laxmikant Parmar, editor of Padkar News newspaper, and Garg under Indian Penal Code sections 153 for wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riots and 153a for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or race, place of birth or language, as well as various other sections.
According to police, R C Kharadi, a sub-inspector with Sector 21 police station, filed a complaint that on May 30, a policeman with the “surveillance squad” received the PDF of Padkar News newspaper on his cellphone.