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BANGALORE, India, Tuesday (AFP) Firebrand Hindu nun Uma Bharti was released from a jail in southern India's Karnataka state after authorities withdrew charges against her linked to a 10-year-old riot case.

Bharti had been accused of defying a curfew in 1994 and attempting to hoist the Indian flag at a Karnataka prayer ground disputed between Hindus and Muslims, setting off communal violence.

Five people later died when police fired to disperse clashing mobs. Bharti resigned as leader of the central state of Madhya Pradesh on August 23 after Karnataka authorities decided to press the charges in the riot case after years of vacillating.

Bharti was ordered by a court to remain in prison for 14 days awaiting the start of her trial, but the authorities made a sudden U-turn Monday and said they would no longer pursue the charges.

The state prosecutor filed a petition for her release which was Monday allowed by a local court. "The court order is a victory for nationalism. Every Indian has the right to hoist the national flag anywhere," Bharti told a news conference after her release.

Bharti, a member of the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the ruling Congress party had tried to make a political issue out of the 10-year-old case but said voters would give a stinging reply in forthcoming state polls in western Maharashtra state.

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