India Gate protesters granted bail in one case, sent to judicial custody in another

New Delhi, Hours after a Delhi court on Friday granted bail to nine people accused in a case related to a scuffle at the Parliament Street police station, another court sent eight of them to seven days’ judicial custody in a separate case.

A total of 23 protesters were arrested in two different cases registered at the Parliament Street and Kartavya Path police stations.

Seventeen of them were arrested in connection with the scuffle at the Parliament Street police station and six were held by the personnel at the Kartavya Path police station in a case over the alleged use of pepper spray on cops while agitating at India Gate.

On November 27, a court sent four of them to police custody and the remaining 13 to judicial custody in connection with the FIR lodged at the Parliament Street police station.

Of those 13 sent to judicial custody, nine were granted bail on Friday by Judicial Magistrate Sahil Monga, saying their further remand was not required.

“The concerns regarding absconding or tampering with evidence can be addressed by imposing reasonable conditions. Further custodial detention is not necessary, as the IO has not sought police custody and the investigation does not appear to require their incarceration,” the magistrate said.

However, 15 of the 17 protesters named at the FIR at the Parliament Street police station have been arrested by police again in connection with the case registered at the Kartavya Path police station.

Of the 15, seven were formally arrested on November 25 and the remaining eight were arrested on Friday.

After hearing the arguments, Judicial Magistrate Aridaman Singh Cheema held that the arrests were legal and sent all the eight freshly-held accused to seven days’ judicial custody.

Six accused were already under police custody in connection with the same incident, taking the arrest count to 21.

Representing four accused, advocate Sowjhanya Shankaran argued that the grounds of arrest were not provided and called the action “illegal”.

“Grounds of arrest were not given, their families were not informed…. They have to be released if they are not produced before a magistrate in 24 hours,” the lawyer said.

“The advocates were not informed. There has to be some sanctity. They knew we were going to get bail, so they rushed…,” she added.

Meanwhile, police submitted in the court that production within 24 hours is not mandatory as the accused were already in judicial custody.

They said the grounds of arrest were provided and relatives were informed of the action.

At a previous hearing on November 26, the Delhi Police told the court that a few protesters, arrested for allegedly using pepper spray on police personnel during a demonstration at the India Gate over pollution, are supporters of the banned Radical Students’ Union.

A few of these students were found to be singing songs and supporting the banned frontal organisation on social media, New Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Devesh Kumar Mahla told the court.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.