Delhi Court dismisses bail plea of three accused in sloganeering at Jantar Mantar

A Delhi Patiala House Court has dismissed the bail plea of three accused in connection with inflammatory sloganeering near Jantar Mantar.

Metropolitan Magistrate Udbhav Kumar Jain dismissed the bail plea of all the three accused Preet Singh, Deepak Singh and Vinod Sharma who had made inflammatory slogans in creating communal disharmony.

"Considering the fact that investigation of the present case is at a nascent stage, the nature of accusations levelled against the accused persons and also taking into account the overall facts and circumstances of the case, this court is not inclined to allow the present application at this stage. Accordingly, application stands dismissed," the Court opined.

Delhi Police has opposed the plea saying that the release of the accused will be prejudicial in maintaining public tranquillity and will further create a serious law and order situation as there are chances that the accused will create communal disharmony.

Public Prosecutor said that the gathering was held without any permission and was held near the Parliament during its ongoing Monsoon Session and the accused violated the guidelines issued to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional Public Prosecutor Kartikay Sharma appeared for Delhi Police while lawyers Ashwani Kumar Dubey, Nirmal Kumar Amabastha, Manish Kumar, Avadh Kaushik, Rudra Pratap Singh, Vikram Singh, Rakshal Singh, Vinay Gaur and Yashveer Singh appeared for accused Preet Singh and the other two accused.

A Delhi Court on Wednesday granted bail to advocate Ashwani Upadhyay, who was arrested in connection with inflammatory sloganeering near Jantar Mantar.

Upadhyay and the other five accused were arrested on Tuesday after police had summoned and questioned all the accused in the matter.

On August 9, a First Information Report (FIR) had been booked against an unknown group of people in connection with the alleged "raising inciting slogans" at Jantar Mantar.

It was alleged by Police that Ashwini Upadhyay had called on a march "Colonial Laws and Make Uniform Laws" on Sunday where the alleged "objectionable slogans" were raised.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of New Delhi, Deepak Yadav had told, "People who had gathered at Jantar Mantar had no permission. It has come to our due notice that some people raised inciting and objectionable slogans as well. We have also received a video and have registered FIR in the case."

"We are carrying out further investigation into the matter. Necessary action will be taken at the earliest." added the DCP.

Delhi Police senior official earlier toldthat they are trying to ascertain the authenticity of the video. "After verifying the video strict legal action will be taken against those individuals who have done such act," said the official.

( With inputs from ANI )