Inflammatory slogans at Jantar Mantar: Court reserves order on Ashwini Upadhyay’s bail plea

Delhi Police Tuesday opposed the bail application of Supreme Court lawyer and former Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay, who is currently in judicial custody for alleged inflammatory and anti-Muslim slogans at Jantar Mantar. Police told the court Upadhyay was a speaker at the event and whether he was present during the time of sloganeering is under investigation.

After police’s submission, Duty Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House Court Udbhav Kumar Jain reserved his order on Upadhyay’s bail plea.

Senior Advocates, Vikas Singh, Siddharth Luthra and advocate Ashwani Dubey argued on behalf of Upadhyay.

Singh told the court that Upadhayay was not present during the time of the incident as per the timing of the videos that went viral and informed, he was in Ghaziabad.

“I will be the last person to represent somebody who made such reprehensible slogans. If the allegation was, I was the organiser and this took place in front of me, I would not have represented him…He is a very respected person…It is a very serious case. Police can’t indiscriminately arrest him. He should be released today itself. This is an illegal incarceration,” Singh told the court.

Luthra told the court, “Very often in life we may be a part of a public function, that does not mean that if a fracas breaks out when we are not there, we should be held responsible. That should not be held against him.”

The public prosecutor told the court that the gravity of the offence and the sensitivity of the case have to be looked into.

He told the court that at the time when Covid-19 restrictions were in place, the monsoon session was underway as were preparations for Independence Day celebrations.

“They should have been calculative while arranging this gathering. It was to create a ruckus, what was the need to do this at this time? They did not have permission. They did not respect the DCP order. Policemen on the ground had been telling them about social distancing and wearing masks but they were disobeyed,” the prosecutor told the court.

The prosecutor told the court that Upadhayay was a speaker at the event and his involvement must be looked into.

“Look at their involvement. They are saying he was present. He said he was a speaker. There is an admission. Whether he was there or not during the hate speech, we don’t know but he was a speaker,” the prosecutor told the court.

The prosecutor said Upadhayay should have first complained to police, which instead undertook this case on its own. He said videos investigated by the investigating officer contained hate speech which was evident.

“His version is that he had left. When he left is a matter of investigation. There is no evidence as such that he left. It is their version. Exactly what is the nexus, who gave the speeches? We are at a nascent stage of the investigation,” the prosecutor told the court.

Singh told the court, “You pick anyone that cannot be justified. We were saying we are not involved in the incident. Look at the video footage.”

“It is against the rule of law to arrest anyone. Tomorrow you will pick me up saying someone made hate speech and we will arrest you. There is no link between us,” Singh told the court.

Dubey rebutted the prosecutor’s claim that Upadhayay did not bring the incident to the notice of police. He told the court, “Upadhyay wrote an email to the DCP to arrest these persons. He eventually gave a three-page letter and pendrive to police… It is not that he has no respect for law.”