Joshi denied bail; plea to come up tomorrow

MORADABAD: A district court today denied interim bail to UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, arrested last night for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati, and fixed for tomorrow the hearing of her plea.

Joshi had approached the court after Chief Judicial Magistrate K K Shrivastava had turned down this morning her bail plea and remanded her to judicial custody for 14 days.

Additional District Judge(II) Sudha Sharma put off the hearing on Joshi's bail application till tomorrow as the case diary could not be submitted by the police.

Joshi has been booked under section 153 A (delivering inflammatory speeches) and section 109 of IPC (using abusive language) besides provisions of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for making remarks allegedly defamatory to Mayawati in connection with her government's compensation to rape victims.

The Congress leader had sought bail contending that the offences against her were not cognisable. She had also cited ill-health as a ground in her application.

The defence lawyers had sought interim bail for her till tomorrow citing higher court rulings but their plea was turned down by the ADJ who posted the matter for 10.30 AM tomorrow.