Row over memorial for son: Bihar court grants bail to Galwan martyr's father

PATNA: Raj Kapoor Singh, the father of Galway Valley martyr Jai Kishore Singh, was granted bail by the additional district judge (ADJ)- 3 Naveen Kumar Thakur’s court in Bihar's Hajipur district on Thursday.
Singh, a resident of Chakfatah village in Jandaha police station area of Vaishali district, was arrested on Saturday when a complaint was lodged by his neighbour Harinath Ram who had objected to "illegal" construction of a memorial of the deceased soldier.

Singh, who was in jail, had been booked under the SC/ST Act.
The development came a day after the issue was raised in state assembly and a high-level police team was formed to probe the incident.
The court granted bail to Singh on two bonds of Rs 10,000 each and came out of jail in the evening after the required paper work.

The police could not present any kind of evidence against the martyr's father in the court, after which he was released, said Singh's lawyer.
“The court has also accepted the the FIR was registered before any investigation in the case,” he said.
Singh was arrested on February 26 under various sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He was sent to jail on the charges of encroaching village road by building a memorial of his son on a government land in front of the plot belonging to Harinath Ram at his village Chakfatah.
According to his family members, the police thrashed him, when he refused to relocate the memorial of his son.
After bail, his family members heaved a sigh of relief. Singh’s wife said the attitude of the police was unacceptable. “They had misbehaved and physically abused my husband before arresting him. We have no information about the case,” she said.
After the matter came to light, there was uproar in the Vidhan Sabha by the opposition on Wednesday. The BJP lashed out at the Nitish government by raising this issue in the assembly.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar had also said that he had talked to defence minister Rajnath Singh and assured him that the matter was being investigated and appropriate action will be taken.