India Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib, arrested in connection with a “shirtless” protest at the AI summit, secured bail from a magistrate’s court on Saturday, only for it to be stayed by a sessions court hours later.
Directing the stay on the bail, additional sessions judge Amit Bansal listed the
matter for further hearing on March 6.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi magistrate court granted bail to Chib but later ordered a verification of the documents and bonds furnished by him, adding that he would be in judicial custody till Sunday morning.
Chib was produced before duty magistrate Vanshika Mehta at her official residence around 1am as his four-day police custody, granted by the court on February 24, came to an end.
Mehta pronounced her order granting relief to Chib at 4am while rejecting Delhi police’s plea seeking an extension of the Youth Congress president’s custodial interrogation for another three days to track down the other accused.
The police had named him the kingpin of the conspiracy related to the demonstration at the summit, which set off intense political debates.
In a handwritten order, the magistrate asserted that “no person shall be devoid of his liberty on mere conjectures or primarily because the co-accused persons are yet to be arrested”.
The court also found that the police failed to give cogent reasons for seeking Chib’s custody for three more days.
“Being guilty or not is a matter of trial, and the law takes its own course to adjudicate such. However, what is relevant is whether the custody of the accused is required at this stage. The accused person is the national president of the Indian Youth Congress, has strong roots in the society, hence, he is not at flight risk,” the court said.
The public prosecutor argued that Chib’s further custody was required to ascertain the whereabouts of two other co-accused and arrest them.
Chib’s counsel Sulaiman Mohammad Khan contended that Article 21 was the soul of the Constitution and protected the liberty of every individual.
The court said to curtail liberty, a strong explanation must be put forth, or evidence must be shown to establish that the denial of custody could impede the course of justice.
It directed the Youth Congress president to furnish a surety bond of ₹50,000 and surrender his passport and electronic gadgets.
Welcoming the court’s decision, Khan told The Telegraph that they received a message from the police at midnight, stating he would be produced before the duty magistrate around 6am. “After half an hour, we received a call that he would be produced before the duty magistrate at 1am,” he said.
However, the court sent another accused in the case, Bhudev Sharma, to police custody for three days. “Accused Bhudev Sharma was present at the site of the protest. The investigation is at a nascent stage, allegations are serious in nature, hence, his custody is imperative,” the court said.
So far, 12 people have been arrested in the case in which Youth Congress activists barged into the AI summit venue on February 20 and took off their sweaters and
jackets to reveal T-shirts bearing the images of Modi and US President Donald Trump, with slogans against the government and the India-US trade deal.