Delhi: Court grants bail to 17 protesters

New Delhi: A court here has sought a report from Delhi Police on allegations of “custodial torture” levelled by two protesters arrested on Monday, as it granted bail to 17 people accused of unlawful assembly and obstructing public space, saying they are young and have their entire career ahead of them. The court also emphasised that while any person has the right to protest peacefully, assaulting police officials on duty is a matter of serious concern which cannot be permitted under the garb of peaceful protest.

The order was passed on Monday night by duty judicial magistrate Animesh Kumar after the 17 were arrested while they were protesting outside the Parliament Street Police Station earlier in the day, demanding registration of an FIR against a police officer alleging that he had molested a woman journalist during that protest on the SIR row.

The court noted that according to the investigating officer (IO), the accused had been arrested as they were part of an unlawful assembly and had obstructed or blocked the public space where prohibitory order was in force, and, besides, when they were being detained, they manhandled the police officials, including a woman police official.

It noted that the police alleged that they also broke the window glass and the back side glass of a bus in which they were being kept, and that they did not cooperate during the investigation.

The court said the counsel for the accused argued that out of around 50 persons who were allegedly protesting, only 17 had been arrested and no CCTV footage of the alleged incident was brought on record.

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The Hans India