Panaji: The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to former State RSS chief Subhash Velingkar, who is booked by local police for hurting religious sentiments with his statement about the patron saint of Goa, St. Francis Xavier.
The single Bench of the Court, comprising Justice B. P. Deshpande, had granted partial relief to Velingkar on October 10 and disposed of the main petition for anticipatory bail, along with five other intervention petitions filed by aggrieved parties.
Velingkar was booked on October 6, 2024, by Bicholim Police for hurting religious sentiments, following a barrage of complaints against him across different police stations in the state. The police had taken cognizance of a complaint filed by AAP MLA Cruz Silva, based on which the First Information Report (FIR) under BNS was filed against the former RSS leader.
Advocate Amit Palekar, who represented AAP MLA Silva through an intervention petition before the High Court, stated on Tuesday that notices were issued to Velingkar under section 35 of BNS, which he complied with by appearing before the investigating officer twice—on October 10 and October 11, respectively.
Palekar told reporters outside the Court that since Velingkar had complied with the notices, the public prosecutor representing the state also submitted before the Bench that his arrest was not required.
“So, as per the law, the HC has concluded that the main application for anticipatory bail and all the intervention petitions are disposed of,” he said.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Palekar mentioned that the lawyer representing Velingkar had also pleaded that the statements made on the merit of the case by the Additional District and Sessions Court, which had refused anticipatory bail to Velingkar earlier on October 8, should be expunged. Palekar noted that the Judge has expunged certain comments made in the judgment by the lower court.
