Court grants bail to Derek O'Brien, TMC leaders in 2024 ECI protest case

A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to 10 TMC leaders, including Derek O'Brien, Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale, in a case registered against them for their protest in April last year in front of the Election Commission of India despite a prohibitory order being in place.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal also granted relief to TMC leaders Santanu Sen, Dola Sen, Nadimul Haque, Vivek Gupta, Arpita Ghosh, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Sudip Raha, on an application moved by their lawyer.

While nine TMC leaders were physically present before the court, Vivek Gupta appeared through video conferencing.

The court has granted bail to five of the leaders, who are sitting MPs, on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each. The rest were granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 along with a surety of like amount.

While granting bail, the judge noted that the chargesheet was filed without the arrest of the accused persons. The court has listed the matter for further hearing on May 21.

According to the Delhi Police, TMC leaders accused in the case gathered outside the main gate of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on April 8 last year and held a protest with placards and banners without requisite permission and despite Section 144 (prohibit gathering) of the Code of Criminal Procedure being in place.

Police alleged they continued to protest despite being informed about the prohibitory orders, following which an FIR was registered.

In the run-up to last year's general elections, the TMC leaders were protesting against central probe agencies CBI, NIA, ED and the Income Tax Department and demanded changing their chiefs. A 10-member delegation of the TMC had announced the protest after meeting a full bench of the ECI to press for their demand.

The party alleged that the central probe agencies were targeting opposition parties at the behest of the BJP-led Centre.