Nine members of the Indian Youth Congress who were arrested in connection with a protest at the India AI Impact Summit on February 20 were granted bail by a Delhi court on Sunday, Bar and Bench reported.
Members of the Congress’ youth wing had staged the protest during the artificial intelligence summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and holding placards alleging that he was “compromised”.
The Delhi Police, which functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, registered a case against the protesters on charges of rioting and promoting enmity between groups. It alleged that the demonstration was an attempt to disrupt the high-profile event.
On Sunday, Judicial Magistrate First Class Ravi of the Patiala House Court said in his order granting bail that the protest amounted to “political dissent” and not “recidivist violence or organised crime”.
“The protest, at highest, constituted symbolic political critique during a public event,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.
The court noted that the demonstration involved participants wearing T-shirts with images of political leaders, chanting slogans that were not inflammatory or communal in nature.
“No evidence discloses property defacement, or delegate panic,” the legal news outlet quoted Ravi as saying, adding that the protesters left the venue in an orderly manner under police escort.
The court said that their prolonged pre-trial detention without any investigative requirement amounted to “illicit pre-emptive punishment” and violated their right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, Bar and Bench reported.
Those granted bail were Krishna Hari, Narshimha Yadav, Kundan Kumar Yadav, Ajay Kumar Singh, Jitendra Singh Yadav, Raja Gurjar, Ajay Kumar Vimal alias Bantu, Saurabh Singh and Arbaz Khan.
So far, 14 persons have been arrested in the case, including Indian Youth Congress National President Uday Bhanu Chib, who was granted bail on Saturday.
On Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi questioned the Narendra Modi government about the police action against members of his party’s youth wing, saying that peaceful protest is not a crime.
“Modi ji, this is not North Korea, it is India,” the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha had said on social media. “When those in power start seeing themselves as the nation and dissent as the enemy – that is when democracy dies.”
The five-day India AI Impact Summit began on February 16 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. It was promoted as a major gathering on artificial intelligence in the Global South, attended by 20 world leaders, technology executives and exhibitors from 30 countries.
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