UP Congress chief Joshi granted bail

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi was on Saturday granted interim bail by a local court in a case relating to derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati.

Additional District Judge Sudha Sharma passed the order and fixed July 29 as the next date of hearing.

Bahuguna was granted bail on condition of furnishing two personal bonds of Rs 30,000 each.

The release order has been sent to the district jail, where she has been lodged after she was arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Mayawati.

Sixty-year-old Joshi was subsequently released from the jail. Defense counsel Anand Mohan Gupta said the sections under which Joshi had been charged were not applicable to her, though the prosecution opposed her bail. The court had on Friday reserved its order on Joshi's bail plea.

Joshi had approached the Additional District Judge after Chief Judicial Magistrate K K Shrivastava had turned down her bail plea and remanded her in judicial custody for 14 days.

The Congress leader, arrested on Wednesday night, was booked under Section 153 A (delivering inflammatory speeches) and Section 109 of the Indian Penal Code (using abusive language) besides provisions of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for making remarks allegedly defamatory to Mayawati in connection with her government's compensation to rape victims.