Kartavya Path protest: Court reserves order on bail pleas of 7 accused

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A Delhi court on Tuesday reserved its order on the bail pleas of seven accused persons in the Kartavya Path protest case for December 4.

The protest took place outside the India Gate on November 23 over rising air pollution levels in the national capital.

The protesters largely comprised students associated with the Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM) and Himkhand, an environmental research and action collective.

They were accused of raising controversial slogans and using pepper spray on cops during the protest, which injured some police personnel trying to control the situation.

Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Aridaman Singh Cheema, reserved the order on the bail pleas after hearing the submissions by the investigating officer and the counsels for the accused.

Delhi Police had earlier opposed the bail arguments and requested more time for custodial interrogation to uncover the conspiracy behind the controversial political slogans raised in support of slain Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, investigate the newfound social media activities of the protesters, and to uncover the source of funding for the students.

According to Delhi Police, the protesters seemed to possess expensive phones, while some of them had previously travelled to Hyderabad for a conference organised by the Radical Students' Union, a banned outfit.

The bail arguments for the accused were heard on Tuesday. The counsels pleaded that none of the accused were on an equal footing when it came to their involvement in the protest.

One of them had no history of political affiliation and was not acquainted with any of the protesters before the protest, while another was a bright student from a lower-middle-class background who could never prove to be a flight risk when on bail.

Arguing for one of the accused, who was an admin for a WhatsApp group that is at the centre of the investigation, one of the counsels said, There is no vicarious liability in criminal law. The admin of a WhatsApp group cannot be held liable for the posts of a group member.

The counsels for several of the accused argued that they had no specific role to play in coordinating the protest, as it was largely out of their control, and they were being held liable for the actions of others.

The counsels also criticised the Delhi Police for failing to determine the source of the pepper spray at the India Gate venue.

You can't swim in two boats. Earlier, they said someone else had pepper spray; now they're pinning it on my client, said one of the counsels, pointing out contradictions in the replies of the police to the bail applications.

The counsels also put forth the argument that the offences invoked by the accused carry a maximum punishment of less than five years, which attracts the Arnesh Kumar guidelines and discourages arbitrary arrests.

A total of 23 protesters have been arrested in two separate cases lodged at the Parliament Street and Kartavya Path police stations, officials said.

Seventeen protesters were held in connection with a scuffle at the Parliament Street police station, while six were arrested in a case involving the alleged use of pepper spray on cops during the protest at the India Gate.

Fifteen of the 17 accused in the Parliament Street case have also been rearrested in the Kartavya Path case. A bail order for the Parliament Street case was passed by JMFC Sahil Monga.

Of the 17, nine were granted bail on November 28, while the remaining eight secured bail on Tuesday.