The Supreme Court has restrained the West Bengal police from executing an arrest warrant issued by a Darjeeling court against radio jockey Janardhan Nitin Brady, whose alleged comments on Indian Idol winner Prashant Tamang sparked large-scale violence in Siliguri recently.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan asked the state police not to arrest the Delhi-based jockey until November 19, the day it hears his appeal against the order of the Calcutta high court rejecting his anticipatory bail plea.
Senior advocate U U Lalit and Ajoy Roy mentioned the Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Cout bench, contending that Brady was entitled to anticipatory bail.Brady had allegedly made derogatory comments against Tamang on September 24 during a radio programme aired in Delhi, which enraged the Nepalese community in Darjeeling district, from where the Tamang hails.
The army and the Border Security Force had to be called in to control the violence in Siliguri after Tamang's fans and local people clashed and torched several cars. The town had virtually turned into a battleground with thousands of people getting involved in the clashes.
The radio jockey has been accused of inciting violence under section 153A of the Indian Penal Code. His lawyers said Brady had approached the high court for anticipatory bail as he had never made the statements being attributed to him by media reports.
