Protesters not part of any banned outfit, further probe not required: Court grants bail to 6 arrested over India Gate stir
Following Friday ruling, 22 of 23 people arrested over the demonstration — which was labelled as a protest against air pollution by the organisers — are now out on bail.
3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Dec 27, 2025 07:28 AM IST
Delhi court granted bail to six arrested last month during a protest at India Gate where alleged slogans favoring Naxalites were raised. (Pic: AI generated for representation)
A Delhi court on Friday granted bail to six people who were arrested last month over a protest at India Gate where alleged slogans were raised in favour of Naxalites, and police personnel were allegedly attacked and injured.
“It is an admitted position that 16 co-accused out of the (23) arrested accused in this case have already been admitted to bail. It is further an admitted position that it has not been mentioned in the reply and thus not the case of the prosecution that any of the applicants is a member of banned RSU (Radical Students Union),” said Additional Sessions Judge Amit Bansal while granting bail to the accused on Friday.
“It is not the case of the prosecution in the reply to the bail applications that BSCEM (Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch) or Himkhand is a banned group or organisation. The applicants have already suffered a custody of about one month each and it seems from the submissions that they are not required for any further investigation,” he added. While 16 accused in the case were earlier granted bail by a Magistrate court in Patiala House, the bail of six others was rejected. They had subsequently moved the Sessions court seeking bail. With Judge Bansal granting them bail, all protesters but one have now been granted bail.
Earlier, while rejecting the bail pleas, Judicial Magistrate First Class Aridaman Singh Cheema had said, “…the investigation is pending regarding the identification of other members of RSU (Radical Students Union, a banned Naxal organisation) who had conspired for transforming the protest of pollution into the support of (Naxal commander Madhvi) Hidma.”
Two FIRs were lodged at Parliament Street police station and Kartavya Path police station in November against the protesters on charges related to assault, obstruction of public servants and outraging the modesty of women police personnel. All the 17 accused booked at the Parliament Street police station FIR – linked to an alleged scuffle between the protesters and the police personnel – were granted bail.
However, another FIR was lodged at the Kartavya Path police station in relation to the alleged recovery of pepper sprays used to attack police personnel and “Naxal links” of protesters.
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Most protesters were reported to be students of Delhi University, associated with the BSCEM and Himkhand, an environmental research outfit.
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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