Daniel Wharton, popularly known as “Baby Skello”, who was recently remanded to prison on a charge of blasphemous libel, has been granted bail in the sum of $45,000 following an application in the High Court by his lawyers Dexter Todd and Everton Singh-Lammy.
On June 13, Wharton appeared at the Diamond Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Judy Latchman where he was remanded to prison until July 1.
The charge stems from a song he released on social media which contained several vulgar lyrics about the Hindu deity Maha Lakshmi.
However, the magistrate’s decision sparked widespread public outrage, with Minister of Education Priya Manickchand describing the decision as “odd”.
Commissioner on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Sase Gunraj, a lawyer by profession, took to his Facebook page to express similar sentiments, saying, “The remand of Baby Skello is unnecessary and excessive. His attempt at music was undoubtedly blasphemous and disrespectful, but refusal of bail ought not be used as a penalty.”
There have since been calls for the repeal of the archaic and incompatible offence of blasphemous libel from Guyana’s statute books.
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