HC bail to six foreign nationals held from Markaz mosque

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has granted bail to six foreign nationals booked during lockdown after being arrested in the Old City.
The court, however, set strict conditions including that they would not leave the country without permission of the court concerned and would remain present before the trial court to face further proceedings.
Passing the order, Justice Jaspreet Singh also directed the accused to deposit Rs 11,000 each in the CM Covid-19 Relief Fund. “The accused be released from jail on their furnishing personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and a solvent surety each to the satisfaction of the concerned court below”, said the court.
While considering the plight of the foreign nationals, the judge said, “The efforts of the administration and the police establishment while dealing with containment of Covid-19 pandemic and enforcement of law and order has been praiseworthy. However, that in itself does not give a blanket clearance to all their acts, rather each case, as it comes before the court, has to be seen and judged on its own peculiar facts and circumstances and the material placed before it.”
The accused are citizens of Kyrgyzstan.
They were arrested on April 26 from Old City in connection with the offences registered underIPC, Epidemic Disease Act, Passport Act, Foreigners Act, and the Disaster Management Act, 2005 by the Kaiserbagh police.