India Gate protest: Granted bail in one case, 8 arrested again over second FIR

On Friday, nine protesters were granted bail in the Parliament Street police station FIR by Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Sahil Monga. “The concerns regarding absconding or tampering with evidence can be addressed by imposing reasonable conditions. Further custodial detention is not necessary, as the IO (investigating officer) has not sought police custody and investigation does not appear to require her incarceration,” JMFC Monga said while granting bail to eight accused who were in judicial custody. The ninth accused had already been arrested in the Kartavya Path police station case earlier.

Following this, along with these eight accused, seven others – also arrested in the Parliament Street police station FIR but not granted bail – were formally arrested from judicial custody in the Kartavya Path police station case.

Advocate Sowjhanya Shankaran, who represented four of the eight accused, argued in the court of JMFC Aridaman Singh Cheema of Patiala House Court that the arrests in the second FIR were illegal.

“Grounds of arrest were not given, their family was not informed… They’ve to be released if they’re not produced before a magistrate in 24 hours,” she said.

“The advocates weren’t informed. There has to be some sanctity… They knew we were going to get bail, so they rushed…,” she added.

To this, police maintained that “no legal mandate of production within 24 hours” is required “if accused is already in judicial custody”.

Shankaran, however, said, “How could they produce before a duty magistrate when the case was being heard by Judge Sahil Monga without informing him… We demand immediate release due to illegal arrest… They have produced surreptitiously and everything is shrouded in mystery.”

Police, meanwhile, told the court that grounds of arrest had been provided and relatives informed of the arrests.

While 10 police personnel were allegedly attacked with pepper spray during the protest on Sunday, police had earlier told the court that they are probing “Naxal links”, as the protesters – mostly students – “raised slogans in support of Naxalites”.

In their remand papers, police have claimed that anti-national slogans were raised, and that they needed to ascertain who is funding the protests. They also said that they had recovered pepper spray and chilli powder from the accused.

“They can say (the slogans are) anti-national because it’s the flavour of the day, but they don’t need my custody,” Shankaran said on behalf of the accused.

“Women in Delhi carry pepper spray with them, especially after 2012… as they should,” said Shankaran. “What funds are they talking about? Posts on (Facebook) are free,” she added.

Shankaran was referring to the brutal assault and gangrape of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012, leading to her death.

“You want to confront (the accused) with WhatsApp chats… you have everything, my laptop, my phone,” Shankaran added. “The only thing is that the children did not listen to the police… nothing more than that meets the eye,” she added.

After hearing arguments from both sides, JMFC Cheema held the arrests as legal. “Formal arrests were allowed two days ago… I am only moving in furtherance with the duty magistrate order,” he added.

Among those named in the FIRs are Delhi University students associated with the Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch and Himkhand, an environmental research and action collective.