Jayalalithaa Gets Conditional Bail After Ten Days in Jail; AIADMK Supporters Celebrate
Jayalalithaa Bail Hearing: Supporters Threaten to Take Kannadigas in Tamil Nadu 'Hostage'
How Confusion over Jayalalithaa's Bail Led to Premature Celebrations in AIADMK Camp
The much awaited hearing has begun in Karnataka High Court, which will possibly declare its verdict on AIADMK Supremo J Jayalalithaa's bail plea on Tuesday. Her plea hearings have been postponed twice since her conviction in a disproportionate assets case on 27 September.
16:10pm Even though the prosecutor told he has no objection if Jayalalithaa gets conditional bail, the Karnataka High Court refused to grant her bail on Tuesday. The vacation bench said there are no reason to suspend her conviction.
15:25pm Prosecution has reportedly told the court that they do not have any objection if court grants her conditional bail.
14:30pm Bail Plea Hearing Resumes
13:30pm State High Court's special Bench has adjourned the hearing till 2:30 pm.
12:50pm Jayalalithaa's lawyer Ram Jethmalani has finished his argument before the court and the verdict is awaited, which will be declared after High Court will hear Sasikala Natarajanand K Sudhakaran's pleas.
12:15pm Jethmalani is seeking bail reportedly on pretext of her health, which has deteriorated during her stay in Bangalore Central prison. Prosecution, arguing against her bail plea, claimed that Jayalalithaa will abscond if the court grants her bail. However, her lawyer confirmed that nothing as such will happen.
12:07pm The hearing has started amid tight security around state high court and Bangalore Central Prison. A poster has been spotted with threats to kidnap Kannadigas residing in Tamil Nadu and hold them hostage until Karnataka High Court grant her bail, IBNLive reported .
While sportspersons in Chennai have come out in protest against her conviction, tight security has been put in place in Chennai and Bangalore, according to reports.
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was sentenced to four years in jail with a penalty of ₹100 crore for holding disproportionate assets worth ₹ 66.65 crore. The case was filed 18 years ago by the Tamil Nadu police, which claimed that she acquired the property by corrupt means.
After the court's verdict, she was sent to Bangalore's Parappana Agrahara Central Prison and was given a single cell. Her conviction had angered the people of TN, where protests broke out soon after her sentence was pronounced, while many even tried to commit suicide due to grief.
After the conviction, her lawyer Ram Jethmalani filed two pleas in Karnataka High Court; one seeking bail and another challenging her conviction claiming that her jail term has caused unrest and chaos in Tamil Nadu. However, the court hearing was postponed by a week to 6 October.
Tamil Nadu lawyers protested against the delay in bail plea hearing and alleged that Karnataka High Court is conspiring against Jayalalithaa as it wants her to remain locked up in Bangalore jail. Jethmalani then approached Chief Justice of Karnataka DH Waghela for early hearing. Approving his request, Waghela set the date for her hearing on 1 October.
However, Karnataka High Court's special vacation Bench, scheduled to hear her bail plea, once again adjourned the hearing to 7 October. This had created a hue and cry in the state. Tamil Nadu's Federation of Associations of Private Schools, which decided to shut down all the private schools and colleges on the day of her hearing, has now reversed its decision.
Declaring that all colleges and schools across the state would remain open on Tuesday, Anna University Vice-Chancellor M. Rajaram said, "no one from any private college association has approached me for declaring a holiday for Tuesday. There is no direction from the State government, too," The Hindu reported.
