New Delhi: Three youths accused of rioting during the tractor march on January 26 have been granted bail by a Delhi court. Their bail was opposed by the state on the ground that the violence had left 94 policemen injured.
Additional sessions judge Samar Vishal was acting on the bail applications of Gursewak (18), Daljinder (22) and Rohan (22) —all of whom were granted bail considering their young age.
The court in each of the three orders stated, “Considering the age of the applicant/accused, his clean antecedents and the period of incarceration, I deem it fit to release him on bail.”
The court observed that the prosecutor had rightly opposed the bail application of the applicant, as the riot which broke out on that day was violent and none of the act of the rioters/protesters comes within the purview of democratic right of protest.
“Right to protest means right to peaceful protest and not to resort to violence of any kind even on provocation. The facts portrayed by the prosecution shows that the acts of the protesters/rioters cannot be condoned,” it said.
The court, however, highlighted that the guilt or innocence of the applicant was a matter of trial and nothing couldn’t be stated about it at the current stage. “The applicant is a young boy of 22 years and has a minor child of one-and-half-years. No previous criminal involvement is reported against him, which shows that he has clean antecedents. He has been in custody for about 26 days,” the court underscored in its bail order.
The prosecution had submitted that during the incident, protesters hit the police barricades and police vehicles with their tractors.
As bail conditions, the trio was directed not to leave the country without prior permission of the trial court and surrender their passports within one week from their release.