Kamal Haasan seeks anticipatory bail in HC over 'Hindu extremist' remark

Makkal Needhi Maiam president and actor Kamal Haasan Wednesday filed an anticipatory bail petition before the Madras High Court here, saying his speech was about Nathuram Godse only and not about Hindus as a whole.

Haasan moved the plea after the court earlier refused to quash an FIR against him, saying such pleas cannot be taken up as emergent petitions during the vacation and that if an anticipatory bail application was filed it could be taken up for hearing.

The FIR registered was against him over his "free India's first extremist was a Hindu" remark made during an election meeting in the Aravkurichi Assembly constituency on Sunday last.

In his plea, he said the offence quoted in the first information report (FIR) under Sections 153(A) and 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code required procedural safety under CrPC and the same had been overlooked.

Haasan said the complainant had not personally witnessed his election campaign meeting and it had been clearly stated in the FIR.

Earlier, the High Court Bench here refused to entertain the MNM chief's petition seeking to quash the FIR registered against him.

Justice B Pugalendhi of the Madurai Bench said such pleas cannot be taken up as emergent petitions during the vacation.

"It is only based on hearsay and the source of information of the content of the FIR was not disclosed and the apprehensions expressed in the FIR were ill-founded. The FIR instead of establishing communal harmony had only created a life threat to the petitioner personally," the MNM chief submitted in his anticipatory bail application.

Haasan also submitted that a state minister had made a public statement about his speech and made a political issue out of it.

The actor-turned-politician contended that attempts were being made to malign his good name among the public.

The petitioner submitted his statement about Nathuram Godse was not a distorted one.

"In fact he (Godse) himself in his statement during hearing of the Gandhi assassination case and in his book "Why I Killed Gandhi" had categorically admitted that he was a Hindu and Gandhi was the reason for the partition of India," the petitioner submitted.