No coercive action against J'khand BJP chief facing sedition

The Jharkhand High Court hasdirected the state administration not to take any coerciveaction till further orders against senior BJP leader DeepakPrakash, who faces a sedition case for allegedly trying todestabilise the JMM-Congress-RJD government.

A sedition case was registered against Prakash, theBJP's Jharkhand president and a Rajya Sabha MP, following hisclaim in a press conference on October 30 last year that thesaffron party will form the government in the state in thenext two-three months.

During the hearing of the case on Tuesday, a bench ofJustice Anand Sen also sought a response from the stategovernment after the counsel of Prakash prayed for quashing ofthe FIR against him, claiming that political statements of anykind do not fall under the category of sedition.

The government's reply should be submitted in the formof an affidavit within four weeks.

The BJP state presidents press conference was helddays before an assembly by-poll in Dumka constituency.

Based on a complaint lodged by the Congress Dumkadistrict chief Shyamal Kishore Singh, a case of sedition wasregistered against Prakash for allegedly trying to destabilisethe Jharkhand government. He was also booked for criminalconspiracy and intentional insult to provoke breach of peace.

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