By PTI
NAGPUR: Nagpur Congress leader Sheikh Hussain, who is facing an FIR for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was arrested on Thursday and later released on bail, a police official said.
Hussain, a former Nagpur city Congress president, was booked by the Gittikhadan police on late Tuesday night after local BJP leaders submitted a memorandum to DCP (Zone I) Sandip Pakhale over his objectionable comments against Modi during a protest on Monday.
The demonstration was held near the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Nagpur by the Congress to protest the central agency’s questioning of party MP Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case.
The police later registered an FIR under sections 294 (punishment for obscene acts committed in public or obscene words spoken in public) and 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code (both offences are bailable in nature) against Hussain on the basis of a complaint lodged by Vinod Damodar Kanhare, president of the West Nagpur BJP unit.
An officer of the Gittikhadan police station told PTI that Hussain was arrested in the case and subsequently released on bail.
If a person is arrested for a bailable offence, he is entitled to be released on bail at the police station itself.
Talking to reporters, Nagpur city Congress president Vikas Thakre, who was at the police station when Hussain was released on bail, said there was no such urgency in acting in the matter.
“There are many criminals in the city who are facing charges under MCOCA (a tough law against organized crime), but are absconding. If someone says something about a politician, is there such an urgency to act against him? We will speak to the Commissioner of Police about it,” he said.
