Hyderabad: Suspended BJP Goshamahal legislator T Raja Singh will appear before the Preventive Detention (PD) Act advisory board today on September 29. The board will question Raja Singh through a video conference.
The MLA has been in jail ever since he was detained under the PD Act by the Hyderabad police last month. Raja Singh was taken into custody after he made derogatory comments against Prophet Muhammad in a video that was posted on Youtube. It was done in retaliation against the state government for letting comic Munawar faruqui perform in Hyderabad on August 20.
Raja Singh’s wife Usha Bai has already filed a petition in the Telangana High Court challenging the PD Act imposed on her husband. The MLA was arrested under PD Act on August 26 for making derogatory remarks on Prophet Muhammad and has been lodged in Cherlapally central jail. Raja Singh was also suspended from the BJP for violating party rules.
Raja Singh’s derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed lead to disturbance in Hyderabad and Telangana, as many youth began protesting against him. The MLA has 101 cases booked against him, of which 18 were for communal disturbances. His comments came in retaliation against the state government allowing comedian Munawar Faruqui to hold a show at Shilpakala Vedika in Hyderabad.
After detailed studies, the police explored the option of invoking the PD Act against Raja Singh which did not mandate him to be produced in court.
Background of Raja Singh’s comments
On August 22, after the video was released wherein he allegedly made derogatory comments against Prophet Muhammad, the police decided it was enough. Keen on maintaining Hyderabad as ‘communal riot free state’, they booked cases in different police stations. The next morning, Raja Singh was arrested.
The suspended BJP MLA passed several derogatory comments against Muslims and Prophet Muhammad in the Youtube video. Raja Singh was essentially unwilling to let go of the fact that standup comic Munawar Faruqui was allowed to hold a show in the city last week.
At the end of the video, after making derogatory comments against Prophet Muhammad, Raja Singh said that whatever he uttered was “comedy”. The MLA said he also didn’t like what he said. The video was uploaded on Shree Ram Channel Telangana (now made private).
Soon after the release of the video, protests broke out in various parts of Old City. Later on, protests intensified against Raja Singh after he was released on bail. The BJP disassociated itself from his comments.
As things were going out of hand, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao held a high-level meeting and asked police to initiate tough action against Raja Singh. High officials of the police at an internal meeting explored all options and considered invoking PD Act as a super available alternative.
BJP chief spokesperson for Telangana Krishna Saagar Rao earlier told Siasat.com that his party respects all religions and faiths. “We are a national party and we don’t support the statements of Raja Singh or hate speech,” he stated.
Sequence of events
Raja Singh’s derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad were posted in a Youtube video on the night of August 22. It has been taken down since. Raja Singh posted it in retaliation to the Telangana government allowing comedian Munawar Faruqui perform in Hyderabad on August 20. He had threatened to disrupt the show, but was prevented from doing so by the police.
Raja Singh then took to Youtube, and posted his own video making derogatory statements on Prophet Muhammad, which he called a “comedy”. Protests erupted the same day around midnight and continued on August 23 following which the BJP MLA was arrested but he managed to get bail.
The situation got worse in the night the same day when scores of protestors remained on the roads after news spread that he got jail. Protests continued for two more days afterwards, until Raja Singh was finally detained under the PD Act on August 26.
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