The Delhi High Court on Monday lifted the stay on bail granted to Indian Youth Congress (IYC) President Uday Bhanu Chib in the case related to shirtless protests by Youth Congress workers at the India AI Impact Summit.
A magistrate court had initially granted bail to Banerjee on February 28 but the same was stayed by a Sessions court the very same day after an urgent hearing. Chib then moved the High Court against the same.
Justice Saurabh Banerjee on Monday heard the matter before granting an interim stay on the sessions court order. He said the order of the sessions court cancelling the bail was passed without application of mind and without any giving any reasoning.
"The question is, is there any application of mind. If there is no application of mind, the order has to be stayed. He (sessions judge) is recognising that only in rare and exceptional cases the stay of bail can be granted but where is the application of mind that it is a rare and exceptional case? I will be very frank with you, the order has to be stayed because there is no application of mind. Please see the order, the first line says you are asking for a stay and in the last line, he has granted a stay," the judge noted.
“Therefore, it proceeded to issue notice on Chib's plea to be heard in detail, with the sessions court order being stayed till the matter is decided. In the facts of the case involved, there shall be a stay of the order passed by the sessions court," he added.
Members of the IYC staged a shirtless protest inside the India AI Impact Summit held at Bharat Mandapam on February 20. Several activists entered the venue, some removing their shirts to reveal t-shirts with slogans like ‘PM is compromised’ and criticisms of the India-US trade deal, before chanting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and government policies.
Chib was taken into custody for questioning on February 23 and arrested the next morning. He was then produced before the court, which remanded him to police custody for four days. Chib was later granted bail by Duty Magistrate Vanshika Mehta at around 3:30 am on February 28 when he was produced before the court by Delhi Police. The prosecution had sought an extension of his police remand.
However, the order was stayed by the Additional Sessions Judge Amit Bansal the very same evening. Notably, the order staying bail was passed ex parte (without hearing Chib's lawyers). The Sessions Court said it is a ‘rare and exceptional’ case where the situation demands the passing of an ex-parte order of stay.
Chib then moved the High Court. Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Chib, argued that the police challenged the magistrate's bail order by way of a revision petition.
Luthra contended that the sessions judge misinterpreted the Supreme Court judgment in Parvinder Singh Khurana and the order of the Magistrate being interlocutory in nature, no revision under Section 438 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) was maintainable before the sessions court.
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