New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday, April 26, granted bail to actor-activist Deep Sidhu, arrested in the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) case pertaining to the Republic Day violence at Red Fort. The court came down heavily on the police’s decision to re-arrest Sidhu a day after he got bail, noting that the timing of arrest was questionable.
Metropolitan Magistrate Sahil Gupta granted relief to Sidhu on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 with one surety of like amount, while directing him to join the investigation as and when asked for.
Sidhu was first arrested on February 9 in connection with the Red Fort farmers’ protest on Republic Day this year. On April 16, he got bail but was arrested by the Crime Branch, moments after he was released on April 17 in a separate case registered on the same day’s violence, in which the ASI had complained that parts of the fort had been damaged due to a protest allegedly led by Sidhu at the site.
The judge said that the second arrest was an example of “vicious and sinister” action and that it “amounts to playing fraud with the established criminal process,” according to
“This clearly suggests that it was an attempt to defeat the bail order…of the…ASJ and is a grave affront to the personal liberty of the accused and runs foul of rights guaranteed under Article 21. Such vicious and sinister action of investigative authorities amounts to playing fraud with established criminal process and shows scant regard to constitutional protections enshrined, protected and cherished under the Constitution on India,” the court said, according to Express.
The court also noted that in spite of the fact that Sidhu had been arrested on February 9, he was only arrested in the second case on April 17, after he got regular bail.
“I am of the considered opinion that applicant’s further incarceration in the present case would bear no fruit and therefore would be unjustified, nor would the restoration of applicant’s liberty be detrimental to the investigation being conducted by the police authorities,” the judge said on Monday.
(With PTI inputs)