KOCHI: Former MLA and senior politician P C George was taken into custody by the Kerala police on Wednesday in a hate speech case after high drama outside the Palarivattom police station here, which saw activists of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) raising slogans against him while BJP members, led by its state president and other leaders, protested the move.
The Thiruvananthapuram Additional First Class Court Magistrate (II), earlier in the day, rejected the bail plea by the former Poonjar MLA and accepted the state government's application to deny bail.
The case is related to George's alleged hate speech against the Muslim community while addressing a programme organised as part of the Ananthapuri Hindu Maha Sammelan in Thiruvananthapuram last month. Later, on May 10, the Kochi police registered a case against him for his 'objectionable' remarks during a speech, which he delivered in connection with a temple festival at Vennala in Ernakulam.
The Kerala High Court had, on Monday, restrained the police from arresting George in the Vennala speech till May 26 (Thursday). George, in his bail plea in the high court, had said that the prosecution resorted to a 'pick and choose game' and highlighted 'stray sentences' from a 40-minute speech to frame him.
The Palarivattom police have shifted George to the AR camp in Marine Drive. It is learnt that officers from Pattom police station, which is probing the Ananthapuri hate speech case, have left for Kochi to arrest him and take him to Thiruvananthapuram.
Meanwhile, Palarivattom was suddenly thrown into a volatile situation when George, who had been untraceable since Saturday, arrived to surrender after his bail plea in the hate speech case was rejected by the local court in Thiruvananthapuram. While a large number of PDP activists, who gathered outside the station, shouted slogans against George for his alleged hate speech against the Muslim community, BJP members led by its state president K Surendran and A N Radhakrishnan blamed the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government and the opposition Congress-led UDF for going soft on 'terror outfits' such as the PDP. "No stern action was taken against PDP activists who shouted slogans against Hindus and Christians," said Surendran.
Radhakrishnan, the BJP candidate in Thrikkakara, alleged that the Left government was taking the step with an eye on the 27,000 Muslim votes in the constituency. "The government is trying to create unnecessary hatred among different communities. What's the hurry to arrest him now," he asked.