The wife of suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leader T Raja Singh has petitioned the Telangana High Court challenging the Preventive Detention Act (PD Act) invoked by the Hyderabad City Police against her husband after he was detained last month for his alleged statements against Islam.
The writ petition submitted by the wife of the legislator, who is in prison after being detained on August 25, is expected to be heard in a couple of days.
Giving several reasons for the release of Raja Singh, his wife alleged that the police alluded to three recent cases brought against him for his detention under the PD Act. According to the petition, the charges in all three instances against him are the same. In her petition, she argues that her husband was not given an appropriate chance to argue his case before the advisory committee contesting his arrest.
“It is submitted the present detention order came to be passed only to satisfy a section of people who are not public at large and this appears to have been only to appease them and not for any other reason,” the petition reads.
On August 25, Raja Singh was arrested in accordance with the PD Act and sent to Cherlapally Jail. On August 23, police had already taken him into custody. He was however freed following a court order. T Raja Singh’s attorney contended in the bail petition on August 23 that no notice was provided on the MLA under Section 41(A) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The court accepted the lawyer’s arguments and granted bail to T Raja Singh.
As a result, violent protests erupted across the state. The Islamic mob’s sloganeering became so intense that the police were forced to disperse the gathering with lathi charges and tear gas. Massive protests against his bail were held in Hyderabad, with Islamists chanting shouts demanding his beheading. According to accounts, Islamists flocked to the streets and staged rallies throughout the night, raising shouts demanding T Raja Singh’s execution.
In reference to the video Raja Singh shared on YouTube, the police claimed that when the video went viral, protests broke out in several areas of Hyderabad City and other regions of Telangana, causing tension between residents and upsetting the state’s law and order situation.
