Anti-muslim slogan: BJP member sent to judicial custody

Anti-muslim slogan: BJP member sent to judicial custody

New Delhi: BJP member and Supreme Court advocate, Ashwini Upadhyay was sent to judicial custody, Delhi police arrested him over anti-Muslim slogans at a protest rally on Tuesday. 

Delhi court has ordered judicial custody of Upadhyay and five others for two days. Meanwhile, the accused have filed an application before the court seeking bail. 

Police have registered cases against Upadhyay for his hate speech and promoting religious enmity and for "acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony".

In the video clippings showing that anti-Muslim slogans being raised during a protest on Sunday, soon after his hate remarks against Muslims, it widely circulated on social media, 

Read: Anti-Muslim slogans at Jantar Mantar: Delhi Police arrests Ashwini Upadhyay, 5 others

Taking suo muto cognizance of the case, Police have registered a case against BJP leader and five others. Police had said that they had refused permission for the protest march at Jantar Mantar because of Covid reasons. 

While seeking judicial custody of accused Upadhyay, and others, Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava told the court, "My friend knows the law...he has filed 100+ petitions...he knows the law. He should not have done it when the permission was denied".

Mr Upadhyay's lawyer stressed he was not present during the slogan-shouting and urged the court to watch the videos before deciding on his bail. "The onus of something that happened after me going away from the place of occurrence cannot be placed on me," he argued.