AI summit protest: ‘Rare and exceptional case’, says sessions court & stays Chib’s bail granted by magistrate court
The sessions court judge said that it was a "rare and very exceptional case" that Chib was produced at the magistrate's house at 3.30 am on Saturday for bail.
Earlier in the day, the magistrate court had granted bail to Uday Bhanu Chib. (PTI file photo) After a magistrate court in Delhi granted bail to Indian Youth Congress (IYC) national president Uday Bhanu Chib in the early hours of Saturday in connection to the ‘shirtless’ protest at the AI Impact Summit on February 20, a sessions court, in the evening, stayed the order until March 6.
The sessions court judge said that it was a “rare and very exceptional case” that Chib was produced at the magistrate’s house at 3.30 am on Saturday for bail.
“It is also settled law… that as a normal rule, the ex-parte stay of the bail order should not be granted and the said power can be exercised only in rare and exceptional circumstances where the situation demands the passing of such drastic order… it seems… that it is a rare and very exceptional case where the situation demands of passing an ex-parte order of stay of order dated 28.02.2026 passed at 3.30 am by Duty JMFC (Judicial Magistrate First Class) Patiala House Courts to the extent of granting bail to the accused Uday Bhanu Chib…,” Additional Sessions Judge Amit Bansal said while staying the bail order.
Duty JMFC Vanshika Mehta, while granting bail to Chib, had said, “No person shall be devoid of liberty on mere conjectures or primarily because the co-accused persons are yet to be arrested… to curtail liberty, a strong explanation must be put forth.”
In the evening, police moved the sessions court seeking a stay on the bail order. “At around 5.30 pm, the public prosecutor, along with Delhi Police officers, rushed to the court seeking a stay on the bail order. Shockingly, we were not even heard,” said advocate Roopesh Singh Bhadauria who represented Chib in court.
“The bail was stayed without affording us an opportunity of hearing. We were present in court… No information was shared with us, no notice was issued, and no opportunity to present our case was granted,” he added.
Appearing before the sessions court, Special Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava argued that Chib had not moved any bail plea in the first place and that no copy of the same was supplied to them. He also argued that the state was not given any time to file a reply before the bail was granted.
Earlier in the day, the magistrate court, while granting Chib bail had said, “The accused person is national president of Indian Youth Congress and has deep roots in society, hence he is not a flight risk.”
“Further, IO (investigating officer) has not been able to put forth any cogent reasons as to why further PC (police custody) of accused Uday Bhanu is required. The mobile phone of the accused is already in custody of the IO,” it had added.
The alleged incident took place around 12.30 pm, when a group of men had entered Hall 7 of the summit at Bharat Mandapam wearing jackets and sweaters. Underneath, they were wearing T-shirts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture printed on them. They allegedly removed the jackets and sweaters and started raising “anti-national” slogans at the hall. Police have described Chib, who was arrested on Tuesday, as the “main conspirator and mastermind” behind the protest.
Police alleged that the incident was not spontaneous but executed after prior planning and that their initial probe has revealed structured allocation of roles, concealment tactics and coordinated post-incident movement. Thirteen others, all members and office-bearers of the Youth Congress, have also been arrested in the case.
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