Written by: Press Trust of India
1 min readKochiOct 25, 2011 04:18 AM IST
First published on: Oct 25, 2011 at 04:18 AM IST
Taking a serious view of destruction of public property during agitations,the Kerala High Court on Monday ordered that an amount equivalent to the loss must be deposited by the accused as a condition before any bail plea is moved.
Justice K T Sankaran gave the order on a petition filed by seven DYFI activists who allegedly destroyed a police jeep on September 20 in the Chevayoor police station limits.
The court had earlier granted bail to the accused on the condition they deposit Rs 25,000. However,they approached the court with a plea to reconsider the condition.
The judge said the Prevention of Public Property Act was enacted with a view to curb acts of vandalism and damage to public property,including destruction and damage in riots. It directed the petitioners to deposit Rs 25,000 before the Judicial First Class Magistrate,Kozhikode and held they should be released on bail only after remitting the amount.
The state government, however,submitted that destruction of public property cannot always be compensated in terms of money. A rigorous approach is required on granting bail.
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