"The policemen did not give me any warrant or summons. They just picked me up and put me in the lock-up," Poojari said.
Published Jan 06, 2024 | 7:02 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 06, 2024 | 11:56 PM
BJP protest against the Congress arresting the Hindu activist in a 31-year-old rioting case. (Supplied)
Hindu activist Srikanth Poojari, who was arrested for participating in the Ram temple agitation over three decades ago, was released on bail in Hubballi on Saturday, 6 January.
Soon after coming out of jail, he asserted that he had fought for the Ram temple in Ayodhya and would go there again.
The police said they had picked up Poojari on 29 December, 2023, in connection with the disposal of pending cases. It turned out that the accused had participated in the Ram temple agitation in 1992.
The police, however, maintained that 16 cases — including that of bootlegging — were pending against him, and that he was designated a “rowdy” in two police stations.
Soon after his release from jail, Poojari expressed his gratitude to the Hindu organisations that fought for his release.
“Thirty-one years ago I fought for the Ram temple in Ayodhya. I will go there again,” Poojari told reporters.
According to him, the policemen who came to arrest him said that they wanted to take him to the market. “The policemen did not give me any warrant or summons. They just picked me up and put me in the lock-up,” Poojari said.
Asked if he was arrested intentionally by the Congress government ahead of the Ram temple inauguration on 22 January, he said, “I don’t know all that. They (the police) just called me to the market and arrested (me).”
He dismissed the allegations that there were many pending cases against him.
“There were no cases against me. I got all of them cleared one after the other. That’s why I returned from Belagavi,” Poojari said.
Responding to a question, the Hindu activist said he was in jail for eight months in 1992.
Poojari was only one among 36 others that the police in Hubballi-Dharwad Commissionerate alone went after as part of efforts to clear Long-Pending Cases (LPCs).
His case pertained to at least six people being killed in the Hubbali riots on 5 December, 1992, a day before the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh was demolished.
Soon after Poojari’s arrest, the BJP — in the Opposition in Karnataka — staged statewide protests, demanding his immediate release.
“What is the need to arrest a Hindu activist in a case that was filed 31 years ago?” the BJP leaders asked.
The BJP termed Poojari an “elderly kar sevak”, arrested ahead of the opening of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah responded on Wednesday that Poojari’s arrest before the upcoming consecration of the Ram Temple was coincidental.
He also released a list of all 36 arrested along with the alleged crimes on X. The names of Poojari and son Krishna figured on the list.
The 36 people were arrested in cases of theft, dowry, rioting, cheating, prostitution, narcotic offences, road rage, robbery, and assault, as well as under the POCSO Act.
According to court sources, it was a short hearing — about 20 minutes — where advocate Anwekar on behalf of Poojari argued in court that his client should be granted bail on his health grounds as he was 58 years old. He also pointed out that the case was from 31 years ago.
Anwekar also argued that his client was not on the run, something the police claimed. Poojari had also not committed murder or any other heinous crime for his bail to be denied.
The Hubballi town police filed objections to Poojari’s bail. The state’s counsel argued that the accused had 16 cases against him.
It was also argued that he had gained notoriety in the area and had no respect for the court as he was not attending hearings whenever he was summoned.
However, judge Parameshwar Prasanna granted Srikanth Poojari bail on Friday and ordered his release.
(With PTI inputs)
