New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to two men who were allegedly involved in the violence and vandalism at the Red Fort during the farmers' protest rally on Republic Day this year. Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau acquitted accused Boota Singh and Maninder Singh on bail on furnishing a personal bond to the tune of Rs 50,000 with one local surety of like amount. 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.
According to the police, Boota attacked the police personnel and ransacked the Red Fort, while Maninder waived two swords on the ramparts of the monument and attacked on-duty policemen with them. Granting relief, the judge said that Maninder's face is not clear in the photographs and videos relied upon by the prosecution in the case. In Boota's case, the court said that the videos and photographs only show his presence at Red Fort and that there is no material on record to show that the accused was involved in any kind of violence or attacking the police officials.
She also observed that the Investigating Officer is not sure as to whether the act of carrying a Talwar (Sword) or Pharsa (Battleaxe) by Sikhs and Nihangs is prohibited or that the presence of the accused at Red Fort is a grave offence. The judge also relied upon the observations in the bail order passed by the Delhi High Court in the UAPA case filed against three student activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha. “Delhi High Court observed that at a time when the society is polarized and fractured across various lines and ideology reached vanishing point, the Court will do all within their mandate to prevent the misuse of the law and alleviate the anxiety which has come to surround these individuals,” ASJ Lau noted.
"The Hon'ble Delhi High Court observed that the Courts do not function in a vacuum and our judges surely have a view on what is happening around them and that the India democracy is undergoing metamorphosis," she added. Additional Public Prosecutor Pankaj Bhatia, representing the police, told the court that the case is very sensitive in nature involving allegations that are grave and serious in nature, and that they should not be allowed on bail. Meanwhile, advocates Jaspreet Singh Rai, Jagdeep S Dhillon, Kapil Madan, Nitin Kumar, and Gurmukh Singh, representing the accused, told the court that the duo is being falsely implicated in the case and have no role to play in the incident.
PTI
