A Thiruvananthapuram court granted bail to activist Rahul Easwar in a defamation case linked to a sexual harassment complaint.
The prosecution opposed bail citing risk of repeat offence, while the defence said most of the probe was complete.
After release, Easwar alleged procedural lapses and political motive behind his arrest.
Court Grants Bail to Activist Rahul Easwar in Defamation Case
Released after 15 days in custody, Easwar alleges arrest without notice.
Summary
A court here on Monday granted bail to activist Rahul Easwar in a case related to the alleged defamation of a woman on whose complaint MLA Rahul Mamkootathil was booked for sexual harassment and forced abortion charges.
Easwar was granted bail after spending around 15 days in judicial custody.
When the bail application came up before the Thiruvananthapuram District and Principal Sessions Court, the prosecution strongly opposed the plea, contending that the accused was likely to repeat the offence if released on bail.
The defence, however, argued that Easwar would not repeat the alleged act and that a major portion of the investigation against him had already been completed.
Judge Nazeera S granted the bail plea after hearing arguments from both parties.
When granting the bail, the court stipulated that Easwar could not commit the same crime again, according to officials.
Claiming that Mamkootathil was wrongfully involved in the matter, Easwar had been publicly endorsing the expelled Congress MLA.
In addition to Easwar, Congressman Sandeep Warrier is also charged in the case; the court is currently considering his request for anticipatory bail.
After being released from custody, activist Rahul Easwar told reporters that he had been arrested without being given a notice.
“The prosecution told the court that I was arrested after giving a notice. You can verify whether that is true,” he said.
He also alleged that when his bail plea came up for consideration before the court on Thursday last week, the public prosecutor informed the court that the police report was pending.
“However, the police had already submitted their report. Even the police officers were irritated and questioned the prosecutor about it. The intention was to keep me in jail until the elections were over,” he alleged.
Easwar further claimed that the Chief Minister and his party wanted to campaign using the Mamkootathil case to counter the Sabarimala issue.
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“They knew that if I was out, I would campaign against it,” he said.
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