Nand Kumar Baghel (86), the father of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, was on Tuesday sent to judicial custody till September 21 as he refused to seek bail in a local court where he was produced after being arrested on charges of making a hate speech.
Chhattisgarh police, while acting on an FIR lodged at Raipur's DD Nagar police station on a complaint of Sarv Brahmin Samaj, arrested Baghel senior from Delhi and brought him to Raipur. He was later produced before a judicial magistrate where he flatly refused to seek bail. The court then sent him to 14-day judicial remand.
Bhupesh Baghel has serious ideological differences with his father. The Chief Minister has made it clear on several occasions that he has highest regard for his father, but he didn't approve his anti-Brahmin remarks or any of his statements which disrupt social harmony.
Nand Kumar Baghel faces charges under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 505(1)(b) (with intent to cause, or likely to cause, fear or alarm to public, or to any section of public whereby any person may be induced to commit offence against the state or against public tranquility) of the Indian Penal Code.
The arrest was made after the Chief Minister disapproved his father's latest remarks made late last week and put it on record that nobody is above the law, including his father as well.
Nand Kumar Baghel has a track record of making anti-Brahmin rants. He keeps describing Brahmins as foreigners and often calls upon the people of OBC, SC, ST communities to not allow Brahmins to enter their villages.
Meanwhile, the BJP has hailed the arrest of Nand Kumar Baghel, stating that the police action against him would restore social harmony in the state where Brahmins form less than 2 per cent of the population.