Payal Rohatgi gets bail in objectionable comment case

TV and reality star Payal Rohatgi, who was sent to judicial custody till December 24 by a metropolitan court a day ago, was granted bail on Tuesday.

Additional District Magistrate's (ADJ) court of Bundi granted bail to the actress on a personal bond.

Rohatgi was sent to judicial custody by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court of Bundi on Monday on charges of posting objectionable content on social media sites against Nehru-Gandhi family few months ago.

On October 10, a complaint was lodged by Congress worker Charmesh Sharma against Payal for posting an objectionable video on Nehru and his family on the Facebook and Twitter.

Police lodged a case against her under section 504, 505(2) of the IPC and started investigation.

According to senior lawyers, she can be awarded a two year imprisonment or penalty if convicted. As it is a non-bailable offence, bail cannot be granted by the police, they said.

"Despite several notices sent to her, Rohatgi did not come to Bundi for interrogation. The notices were sent via email, posts and even a team was sent there to look for her. However, this time, police team found her and hence she was arrested," Bundi Superintendent of Police (SP) Mamta Gupta had said after the arrest.

A police team from Bundi had to camp in Ahmedabad for three days to arrest her on Sunday.

Soon after her arrest, Rohatgi had tweeted: "I am arrested by @PoliceRajasthan for making a video on #MotilalNehru which I made from taking information from @google... Freedom of Speech is a joke," read a post on her Twitter handle.