New Delhi: A Delhi court has granted interim protection from arrest to a man who hoisted a religious flag at the Red Fort during the farmers' protest rally violence on Republic Day this year. Additional Sessions Judge Neelofer Abida Perveen granted protection to Jugraj Singh from any coercive action till July 20 and directed him to join the investigation.
Interim protection granted to the accused subject to the condition that the accused shall join investigation in the case on July 8, July 11, and July 15 and as and when called upon by the IO, the judge stated in an order passed on June 30. Fearing arrest, Singh had moved Delhi's Tis Hazari court seeking anticipatory bail in two cases related to the violence. Singh had climbed one of the flagpoles on the rampart at the Red Fort, a restricted area of the protected site, and hoisted Nishan Sahib, a religious flag of the Sikh community, the police said.
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The Red Fort is a National heritage site and by hoisting the Nishan Sahib humiliation and embarrassment has been caused to the nation at Red Fort on Republic Day, the police told the court while opposing his pre-arrest bail plea. The police said that he was the key executor of the well-orchestrated conspiracy hatched to convert Red Fort into a protest site and was seen in video footage climbing the flagpole located at the Rampart.
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On January 26, protesting farmers had clashed with police during the tractor rally against three farm laws and stormed into the Red Fort, hoisting religious flags on its domes and injuring scores of policemen. Actor-activist Deep Sidhu is accused of being the key conspirator of the violence and is currently out on bail. The court had recently taken cognizance of the charge sheet in the case and summoned all the accused on July 12.
PTI
