I HAVE written a daily column for decades now, so we are talking about dozens of thousands of columns.

In those mountains of opinions, I have asserted my right to criticise magistrates and judges. I have penned my opinion of Magistrate Judy Lutchman several times. I took the Magistrate to the Judicial Service Commission.

I cannot recall the many times I have disagreed with this lady’s decisions, some of which were completely unacceptable. I am writing once again about my feelings about this magistrate. Baby Skello’s lyrics scandalising the religion of Hinduism is one that I called for his prosecution.

He has been charged, and I can no longer comment on his case, but I would raise my voice if he is jailed. He should not be imprisoned, and he should be made to apologise in court.

The denial of bail by Magistrate Lutchman for a Calypso that insulted one of Guyana’s religions cannot and should not be accepted by this nation.

This is going too far; this magistrate’s decision is flawed. You do not remand an accused for what Baby Skello is accused of. But what about context? In using context, we see how the magistrate’s decision is wrong. Tacuma Ogunseye was recorded as urging the security forces to turn its guns on the government.

Mr. Ogunseye of the WPA was advocating the violent removal of an elected government, and he openly put a racial interpretation to his advocacy. He exclaimed that African Guyanese have the guns, so they should use it against an Indian government.

Mr. Ogunseye was granted bail for such an alleged horrendous abuse of the criminal laws of Guyana.

Mr. Ogunseye has a colleague in the WPA, Kidackie Amsterdam. As the host of a social media programme, Mr. Amsterdam allowed a caller to threaten the lives of ministers of the government, and on being charged, he was granted bail. Surely these two cases compel the observer to disagree with the denial of bail for Baby Skello.

David Hinds comes into the picture. Hinds has gone beyond Baby Skello. I saw a social media clip in which he insulted Indians and their religion, and implied it was the Hindu religion that resulted in the kidnap and murder of a child. He was subtly referring to Adriana Younge.

Rickford Burke is wanted, so he cannot return to Guyana without facing the courts. But why is David Hinds allowed, day in, day out to use inflammatory linguistics for which no country would show tolerance? The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) did the right thing; it charged Baby Skello.

I think Baby Skello went too far. Free speech has limitations; it carries responsibilities. But where is the ERC when David Hinds is carrying on? The latest target of Hinds is Hindu priest and former Mayor, Ubraj Narine.

The entire country knows Mr. Narine is no supporter of the government, so why did Hinds target him? Hinds answered the question: He is Indian.

Is the ERC monitoring social media? Social media has achieved influence among people that have gone far beyond the mainstream media. On social media, there are outpourings that are far more scandalous than what Baby Skello composed.

Do you know I saw a Facebook posting by the father of Adriana Younge, in which he was criticising the President and, in my opinion, words in that clip could be interpreted as threats against the President?

I would urge citizens to get hold of that video of Subryan Younge, the father of Adriana Younge, and review it. I stress again, in my opinion, there were words that could be interpreted as a threat to the President.

I don’t believe anyone in a modern democracy should threaten the Head of State/government, even if it is the father of Adriana Younge. Not because Mr. Younge lost his daughter that should bestow on him the use of unrestrained language. If the authorities missed that video, it is there to be viewed.

Too many extremists get away with criminal advocacies on social media, and it continues on a daily basis in this country. What Baby Skello did cannot and should not be accepted, but he is young and maybe did not know better. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, however.

I believe to stem the tide, the ERC did the right thing in prosecuting him. It will prevent others from a similar embarkation. Baby Skello should not have been denied bail. That was going too, too far. Not in Guyana when you see what horrible allegations people before the courts get bail for. I hope Skello is released today.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.