BENGALURU: Rejecting the Special Public Prosecutor’s (SPP) suggestion that bail can be granted on the ground of parity to the accused in the 2022 Hubballi riot case, the Special Court for NIA cases refused to grant bail to 107 accused.
The counsel for the accused argued that this is a state case and the SPP has stated no objection to bail application. Nobody is going to challenge the order passed by this court and the accused are entitled to bail, he pleaded. Citing the statutory restriction on the special court to grant bail to the accused under Section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act when the accusations made are prima facie true, Special Court Judge Gangadhara CM said the court is not the mouthpiece of the prosecution and has to consider the application as per law.
Rejecting the bail petition filed by Mukthum, Sikandar, Dadapeer, Shanavaz, Sahil and 102 others who are in judicial custody, the court said that for instance, if a public prosecutor, who hand in glove with an accused, files an application stating that there is no merit in the case and the accused may be discharged or acquitted from the charges, whether the court can discharge or acquit such accused based on that application.
The answer is ‘No’. Because it has to find out whether a case is made out to frame charges against the accused or there is no material to convict the accused, it noted.
It rejected the bail application of some of the accused in Dec 2022, and they questioned it before the HC which came to be dismissed as withdrawn. Meanwhile, the Apex Court granted bail to 35 accused. Standing on the same footing, the petitioners moved the court, claiming that they are also entitled to bail.
CASE HISTORY
After an accused displayed a photo depicting the hoisting of a saffron flag on a Masjid’s doom as his WhatsApp status, the accused on April 16, 2022 gathered in front of Old Hubballi Police Station and assaulted the police and threw chappals at them. They also destroyed the vehicles of police, private individuals and also government properties.