NEW DELHI: Hours after a magisterial court granted bail to IYC president Uday Bhanu Chib in the wee hours in a case related to a protest at the India AI Impact Summit here, a sessions court granted him relief for now.
Additional Sessions Judge Amit Bansal stayed the magisterial court order till March 6 on an appeal moved by Delhi Police. The appeal was filed against the order passed by duty magistrate Vanshika Mehta after a midnight hearing. He said, “No person shall be devoid of his liberty on mere conjectures.”
The magistrate, however, sent Chib to judicial custody till Sunday morning while ordering a verification of the documents and bonds furnished by him. The court directed the IYC president to furnish a surety bond of `50,000 and surrender his passport and electronic gadgets. Chib was produced before at the magistrate’s official residence around 1 am on the expiry of his four-day police custody, granted by a court on February 24.
After an hour-long hearing, the magistrate denied the plea for three more days of custody of Chib. The magistrate passed the order after noting that the investigating officer was unable to provide cogent reasons for Chib’s further custody. While granting relief, he said that the right to life and liberty was the soul of the Indian Constitution.
“It is axiomatic that bail is a rule and jail is an exception. Right to life and liberty is the soul of the Indian Constitution. No person shall be devoid of his liberty primarily because the co-accused persons are yet to be arrested,” she said. She also observed that Chib had strong roots in the society and that was not a flight risk.