The High Court of Chhattisgarh, Bilaspur on Friday granted bail to self-styled religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj alias Abhijeet Dhananjay Saraag in connection with a sedition case registered against him in Tikrapara police station in December last year.

The applicant shall be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond for a sum of Rs 1 lakh with two solvent sureties each for a sum of Rs 50000 to the satisfaction of the concerned trial court for his appearance before the said court as and when directed, said the order.

According to the information received, Kishore Bhaduri, senior advocate appearing for Kalicharan submits that the applicant is innocent and he has been falsely implicated in this case due to political rivalry. The offence under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code is prima facie not made out against the Applicant. The decisive ingredients for establishing the offence are missing. In the First Information Report, there is no suggestion that the applicant did anything as against the Government of Chhattisgarh, Government of India or any other Governments of States. The complaint filed against Kalicharan contains no averment that the applicant did anything as against the Governments. In this case, there is no allegation in the complaint that there was any violation of law or disturbance of public order post the speech delivered by the Applicant.

According to the advocate, the comment made by the applicant against the father of the nation is his personal opinion. Rest part of his speech relates to the past history of certain communities, which also do not constitute any offence. The Applicant has a fundamental right of freedom of speech under Article 19(2) In her statement, the victim girl told police that Rai raped her multiple times.