A Kerala court on Thursday granted conditional bail to Congress MLA M Vincent, who was arrested on July 22 on charges of raping and stalking a 51-year-old woman, reported PTI. The Thiruvananthapuram district and sessions court asked him to appear before the investigating officers as and when required and also pay a bail bond of Rs 30,000 and two solvent sureties for the same amount.

On July 21, the woman’s husband had filed a police complaint after she had attempted to kill herself the previous day. He had said that Vincent had threatened and harassed his wife on the phone. Vincent, a first-time legislator, was suspended from the post of party secretary on July 23.

However, the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala had backed the Kovalam legislator and said the case against him was politically motivated. “UDF’s assumption is that Congress MLA Vincent, against whom the charge has been made, has not done anything wrong and the complaint of the woman in this regard is false,” UDF convenor PP Thankachan had said.