JUDGMENT :

(Prayer: Criminal Original Petition is filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C. praying to enlarge the petitioner on bail pending investigation in Crime No.78 of 2022 on the file of the Inspector of Police, Chennai City CCB, Chennai.)

1. The petitioner, who was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on 15.08.2022 for the offence under Sections 153, 505(1)(b) and 505(2) of IPC in crime No.78 of 2022 on the file of the respondent police, seeks bail.

2. The case of the prosecution is that in a public meeting organized by the Hindu Munnani, as an office bearer of Hindu Munnani, the petitioner made a statement that, Sri Rangam Ranganathar Temple is a holy one, but near the entrance of the temple a statue of a person who is an atheist has been erected with the words “who believes in god is a fool, who workship God is a barbarian and who propagates about god is a rascal” and since the statue and the words hurt the sentiments of the hindus, the same has to be demolished. Hence, the case.

3. It is seen that the petitioner had spoken hate speech to remove the statue of Periyar. He also belongs to one political party. That speech was up-loaded in the you-tube and it became viral in social