Brahmavara court remanded 14 days of judicial custody to Mahesh Shetty Timarody
Mahesh Shetty Timarody was arrested on charges of making derogatory remarks against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader B.L. Santosh. Mahesh Shetty Thimarody was produced before the court. The court has remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody.
The arrest was in connection with a complaint filed by the BJP’s Udupi Rural Mandal president, Rajeev Kulal. The complaint accused Thimarody of making derogatory and defamatory remarks against BJP national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh on social media.
Thimarody was booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for making statements conducive to public mischief (Section 353(2)) and intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of peace (Section 352). These are non-bailable offenses.
The court’s decision to send him to 14 days of judicial custody means that he will be held in jail during this period. He is not in police custody, where police can question him. The next legal step for his lawyers would be to apply for bail.
This is part of a larger, ongoing legal battle and social controversy. Thimarody is a prominent activist for the “Justice for Soujanya” campaign and has been vocal about alleged “mass burials” in Dharmasthala.
His arrest has been met with protests from his supporters, who claim it is an attempt to suppress his activism and the ongoing Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the Dharmasthala case.
