A magistrate court on Monday granted bail to a 26-year-old who had been in jail after being arrested for social media posts abusing the state's home minister, chief minister as well as Mahatma Gandhi.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SB Bhajipale directed him to deposit cash of Rs. 20,000 while releasing him on bail.
The court in its order granting bail to the man said that his mobile handset has already been seized and that he has no criminal antecedents. The magistrate also considered that he does a job for earning a livelihood and that in a pandemic situation, it will not be proper to keep him behind bars till the end of the trial when he is ready to furnish surety and no purpose will be served by doing so.
His advocate Shriganesh Sawalkar had filed a bail plea stating that the offensive posts could be the work of a hacker and that Khajje did not have any political affiliations. He also told the court that his future would be affected if he is not given bail as his job would be at stake.
The prosecution had opposed his bail plea citing that the offence is serious in nature and investigation is going on. It also expressed the apprehension that he may abscond if released on bail.
Shrishail Khajje, a graduate from Osmanabad, was booked for the offence of defamation along with IPC offence pertaining to making statements conducive to public mischief. The man worked as a store manager in Pune and was arrested on 11 October and had been in police custody for a few days before being remanded in judicial custody on 16 October.
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