Kalicharan Maharaj remanded to judicial custody in hate speech against Muslims, Christians; bail plea tomorrow

A Pune court on Thursday remanded religious guru Kalicharan Maharaj alias Abhijit Dhananjay Sarag to judicial custody after a day in police custody over the alleged hate speech delivered by him in Pune in December 2021. .Kalicharan, a self-proclaimed god-man is accused of making comments against the Muslim and Christian community during a programme organised in Shukrawar Peth in Pune pertaining to celebration of killing of Adilshahi general Afzal Khan by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.He has been charged for offences under provisions of the Indian Penal Code - Sections 295A, 298 (words and acts to outrage religious feelings) and 505(2) (statements promoting enmity between classes).Maharaj had earlier been booked at Raipur, Chattisgarh for making objectionable statements against Mahatma Gandhi.He was brought to Pune from Raipur on January 5.After the religious guru was brought to Pune, he was remanded to one day police custody by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Pune, MA Shaikh. On Thursday, Kalicharan was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. Soon after this, Kalicharan applied for bail which will be heard tomorrow..In the application filed through advocate Amol Dange, Kalicharan stated that the maximum punishment for the offence was 3 years. He added that the police officer who had arrested him, had not issued any notice under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure which made the arrest illegal. He further stated that the FIR was registered after a delay of over 7 days which created a possibility of false implication..It was stated in the FIR that hate speeches were made against a minority community during a programme in Pune. The offence was lodged by the Khadak Police Station in Pune after an analysis of the video clip of the programme. Police had sought his custody in order to take his voice samples and find out details of who had invited Kalicharan for the event. Along with Kalicharan, the police had also booked Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote, who is also an accused in the Bhima Koregaon riot incident of 2018; Dipak Nagpure, Mohanrao Shete, Nandakishor Ekbote and Maha Vir Chakra awardee Captain Digendra Kumar, who is a Kargil war hero and retired from the Indian army in 2005.