Bihar court issues arrest warrant against Raj
Hours after a Muzaffarpur court in Bihar issued an arrest warrant against the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray for allegedly making ‘hate speeches’ against Biharis, the firebrand leader wondered how it could pass such an order when the Supreme Court is seized of the matter and stayed warrants against him.
The Muzaffarpur judicial magistrate Saheb Kaushar on Tuesday took exception to alleged non-compliance of the court’s earlier order to Raj to represent his side on previous dates and directed the Mumbai police commissioner to arrest him if necessary and produce him before the court on November 2.
The order was in connection with a complaint filed by a senior advocate Sudhir Ojha on February 2, 2008 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).
Reacting to the arrest warrant, Raj wondered how could a lower court issue an arrest warrant when the Supreme Court has given its stay. He was referring to the Supreme Court order of January 8, 2009, staying the execution of a non-bailable warrant issued by a Jharkhand court against him.
A bench of the Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam had then also directed the judicial magistrate, Jamshedpur not to insist on the personal appearance of Raj pursuant to the issuance of the NBW.
The Bench had passed the interim order on a petition from Raj seeking transfer of eight cases filed against him in Bihar and Jharkhand courts to a court of competent jurisdiction in Maharashtra or any other state except Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.
In Mumbai, the police commissioner D Shivanandan said he was yet to receive the Bihar court’s orders.
Raj ‘under attack’
Notwithstanding the legal tangle, leaders of various political parties at the national and state level in Maharashtra have criticised Raj for his anti-Bihari campaign.
On Tuesday, the Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar deprecated his attempts to create regional divide. Delivering a speech at Nasik, Pawar said “We should respect people coming here from various parts of the country as people from Maharashtra also go to and live in other states.”
