Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has granted bail to an accused in the 2020 Bikru massacre in Kanpur on the ground that other similarly placed co-accused have already been released on bail.The accused, Ram Singh, worked as the driver of the main accused Vikas Dubey.On the night of July 2, 2020, at least eight police personnel, including deputy superintendent of police Devendra Mishra, were killed by gangster Vikas Dubey in an ambush when the police team raided his house in Kanpur’s Bikru village to arrest him.Vikas Dubey was killed on July 10, 2020, when he tried to escape custody after a police vehicle bringing him to Kanpur from Ujjain met with an accident.A criminal case against Ram Singh was registered at Chaubeypur police station in Kanpur on charges of murder and attempt to murder.Granting bail to the accused on Oct 13, Justice Krishan Pahal observed, “The criminal history assigned to the applicant has been explained except one case under the UP Gangsters Act. He is on bail in all the other cases. He was convicted in the UP Gangsters Act and so were the co-accused persons, who have been enlarged on bail.”“If a case for bail is otherwise made out, an accused cannot be kept incarcerated solely on account of his criminal antecedents,” the court added.While granting bail, the court imposed conditions that the accused should not tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses and should appear before the trial court as required.The court said that breach of any condition would entail cancellation of bail.
