Chennai: Hours after the arrest and release on bail of DMK Rajya Sabha Member R S Bharathi under SC/ST act, DMK Lok Sabha MPs and former Union Ministers T R Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran filed anticipatopry bail pleas in the Madras High Court, which granted them relief till 29 May.
Earlier, Bharathi, who is also the DMK Organising Secretary, was arrested under the SC/ST Act for his derogatory remarks against Judges belonging to the Scheduled Castes and was granted interim bail by a Magistrate court till month end.
The interim bail was granted citing the pending of two cases filed by him–one pertaining to granting of bail and the other seeking a direction to the Principal Sessions Court to quash the FIR against him.
Fearing arrest under similar charges for their remarks against Chief Secretary K Shanmugam, Baalu, who is also the DMK Parliamentary Party leader, and Mr Maran moved the High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the event of their arrest and
prayed for an urgent hearing.
Taking the pleas via video-conferencing, Justice M Nirmal Kumar, gave them temporary relief by directing the police not to take any coercive action against Mr Baalu and
Dayanidhi Maran till 29 May.
The Judge also ordered maintenance of status quo of the cases registered against them till further orders. Both the DMK MPs feared arrest for making ‘inappropriate remarks’ while addressing the media after meeting the Chief Secretary at the State Secretariat last week to submit the representations received from the people housed in COVID-19 lockdown relief camps.
They alleged that Shanmugam had humiliated them and treated them like oppressed citizens, following which several complaints were filed against them.
Fearing arrests after the Bharathi episode, Baalu and Maran knocked the doors of the High Court and got relief till 29 May.