A Tamil Nadu court Wednesday, January 12 granted bail to Aneesh Jasy, reports TOI. Jasy, a resident of BK Pudur in Coimbatore, describes himself as an ‘ex-Muslim rationalist’. He had been arrested by Tamil Nadu Police on December 29th, for posting alleged ‘anti-Islamic posts’ on Facebook.
While granting bail, Judge R Sakthivel of the Principal District and Session court opined that there is no prima facie evidence against Jasy and the charges are yet to be ascertained.
Judge R Sakthivel remarked, “The court is unable to find prima facie evidence that the petitioner is generating public disturbance.”
“He has the right to voice his thoughts on religion and God’s existence under the Indian Constitution,” said the Judge.
On December 29th, Aneesh, who is a popular ‘rationalist’ among atheist groups in Tamil Nadu was arrested and taken to the Kuniyamuthur Police station. According to Aneesh’s friend, his arrest on December 29th was made without a warrant while he was being taken to the police station asking for his presence concerning an inquiry about his colleague. Aneesh’s friend had alleged that an FIR was made only after his arrest.
Aneesh charged and arrested for posting memes
Sub-Inspector V Ganesh Kumar has stated that he was made aware of the ‘anti-Islamic’ posts by Aneesh insulting Islam, the Prophet and the Holy Quran. He confirmed that he has gone through the Facebook posts and copies of them have been attached in the FIR. According to a report by The News Minute, one of the posts included in the FIR is a meme saying ”people cry crocodile tears over a book that they insist is holy.” Featuring an ex-Muslim, the meme says “he is ashamed when he reads the Hadith.” Another post on Aneesh’s profile can be seen him comparing prophet Mohammad to a self-styled Godwoman.
After assessing the posts, the rationalist had been charged under 295A (deliberate and malicious acts meant to outrage religious feelings), 153A1c (promoting enmity between different groups of religion, race place of birth etc.) and 505-2 (statement conducing to public mischief) by the Kuniyamuthur Police station.
Aneesh, who is now in the Coimbatore Central Jail, was initially sent to the Perundurai sub-jail. A bail plea submitted by his friend was rejected on January 5, before he was granted bail on January 12.