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Fifteen people held for ‘celebrating’ Pak cricket victory granted bail
A local court granted bail on the condition that the accused will refrain from taking out processions or shouting slogans once released from Khandwa jail, and present themselves at the jurisdictional police station every Sunday. They will be let out on Wednesday.
Fifteen people arrested in Burhanpur for allegedly celebrating Pakistan’s victory in the Champions Trophy have been granted conditional bail on a surety of Rs 50,000 each, defence counsel Ubaid Sheikh told HT over the phone on Tuesday.
A local court granted bail on the condition that the accused will refrain from taking out processions or shouting slogans once released from Khandwa jail, and present themselves at the jurisdictional police station every Sunday. They will be let out on Wednesday.
The Madhya Pradesh police had dropped criminal conspiracy and sedition charges against the accused last Thursday, instead slapping Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code on them for “promoting enmity between different groups and committing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony”. Sheikh then moved bail applications for them in the lower court.
“Bail will be furnished to the jail authorities in Khandwa on Wednesday, following which all the 15 accused will be allowed to return home,” he said.
Sheikh said Subash Laxman Koli, the complainant in the case, told the court that he had gone to the police station to get one of the accused released from custody. “Instead, he was thrashed and forcefully made the complainant,” he added.
The families of the 15 accused are jubilant. “Though they got bail a day after Eid, we have decided to collect some money to hold a special feast – complete with mithey chawal (sweetened rice) – for them the same evening. We had lost all hope when they were charged with sedition. The news of the bail was the best Eid gift we could get,” said Gusher Gulzar Tadvi, whose younger brother – Idbar – was among those arrested.
