Mumbai-based Islamic preacher Mufti Salman Azhari was on Thursday taken under preventive detention by the Gujarat police soon after he was granted bail in a hate speech case registered against him in the state's Arvalli district.
Earlier in the day, the court of Additional Sessions Judge HN Vakil granted conditional bail to Azhari, who was booked for delivering an inflammatory speech in an open ground in Modasa on December 24 last year.
This was the third case of hate speech in Gujarat in which the cleric was arrested before being granted bail.
However, as soon as Azhari was released on bail, he was detained at Modasa by the Junagadh local crime branch under the Gujarat Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act.
He will be handed over to Vadodara central jail, Junagadh crime branch inspector Jatin Patel said.
"We have detained him under PASA soon after a warrant was issued against him by the Junagadh collector,' Patel said.
The act allows the administration to take anti-social elements under preventive detention to maintain public safety. -- PTI