New Delhi: A court has granted bail to nine accused in the AI Summit shirtless protest case, observing that keeping an accused in custody based on possible future punishment would weaken the protection of personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of Constitution of India and reduce it to a mere formality.In the order passed on Sunday and released on Monday, judicial magistrate first class Ravi said the validity of custody “pivots on necessity, not convenience” even as the prosecution, led by public prosecutor Atul Srivastav, sought further detention citing alleged violation of Article 19(2) imposing reasonable restrictions on free speech. The court noted that the accused had already spent “11-12 days in aggregate” in police custody, during which their mobile phones, digital devices and related data were fully seized by the investigating officer.
Relying on the prosecution’s own records, the magistrate observed that interrogation had been thorough and dismissed the plea for further custody. He also rejected the investigating officer’s claim that the probe was at a “nascent stage” and the accused needed to be confronted with absconding co-accused Manish Sharma and Vishwajeet. Calling this argument “patently hollow”, the court said such steps could be taken through judicial summons and pointed to the undertaking of the accused to cooperate with the probe. The magistrate said extending custody through judicial remand “demands a far higher threshold”, warning against prolonging incarceration at the cost of personal liberty. The court also cited parity with co-accused Nigam Bhandari, who was granted bail on Friday.It reiterated that pre-trial detention without clear necessity amounted to “illicit pre-emptive punishment antecedent to conviction”, contrary to the principle that liberty is the rule and jail the exception. Accused Krishan Hari, Narasimha Yadav, Kundan Kumar Yadav, Ajay Kumar Vimal, Saurabh Singh and Arbaz Khan were granted bail on a bond of Rs 25,000 each.
