8 men nabbed for vandalising CM’s residence get bail

Protesters led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Bangalore South Tejasvi Surya vandalised property at Kejriwal’s house and clashed with the police during a demonstration against the AAP leader’s comments on the movie The Kashmir Files.

The Delhi high court has granted bail to eight people accused of vandalising chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence in the Civil Lines area, saying that their continued judicial custody is not called for only because some investigations are pending.

Protesters vandalised property at Kejriwal’s house on March 30.(HT)

“Thus, the continued detention of the applicants in judicial custody is clearly not required for proper investigation of the offences,” justice Asha Menon said in an order of Tuesday, granting bail to Chander Kant Bhardwaj, Naveen Kumar, Neeraj Dixit, Sunny, Jitender Singh Bisht, Pradeep Kumar Tiwari, Raju Kumar Singh and Bablu Kumar.

On April 4, a trial court had denied bail to the accused saying that “prima facie it is clear that their fundamental right to peacefully protest is exceeded by them knowingly and intentionally”.

However, noting that the accused have spent 14 days in custody, the high court said there is no allegation of damage to public property through arson on a scale that would clearly be a far more serious matter than what has been alleged against the applicants.

The court said that since the nature of the evidence is such, there is no possibility of the accused tampering with the evidence or inducing or threatening any witness. It also said that nothing has been brought on the record by the respondent/state which suggests that the applicants would not appear before the court when required.

The judge, while releasing them on a bail bond of ₹35,000, also agreed with the submission of the senior counsel for the accused that if the barricades were jumped over by the accused in the presence of the police, they could have been arrested then and there.

Protesters led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Bangalore South Tejasvi Surya vandalised property at Kejriwal’s house and clashed with the police during a demonstration against the AAP leader’s comments on the movie The Kashmir Files.

Some, including Surya, managed to reach the main gate of the residence, threw paint on the steel door, damaged a boom barrier and CCTV installed near the gate, police had said.

On April 1, a division bench of the Delhi high court, while hearing a plea by AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, said that the security outside Kejriwal’s residence was inadequate.

The matter will now be heard on April 25.