Bhim Army's Chandrashekhar Azad granted bail in Daryaganj Anti-CAA protest case

Follow us on

Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad has been granted bail in a case related to anti-CAA protests at Daryaganj. On Monday, Chandrashekhar Azad sought bail from a court in Delhi. While seeking bail, Chandrashekhar Azad had alleged that Delhi Police had arrested him without following due process of law. After his arrest in the aftermath of Daryaganj Anti-CAA violence, Chandrashekhar Azad was arrested and sent to judicial custody.

Here is the complete background of Azad's arrest

• Azad's outfit had called for a protest march from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar against the amended Citizenship Act on December 20, without police permission. Other 15 people arrested in the case were granted bail by the court on January 9.
• Azad's plea further said that he was willing to fully cooperate with the investigation in the case and would not tamper with any evidence or influence any witnesses. 
• "The police have invoked boilerplate charges against the accused (Azad) without the same being founded on any allegation or fact...and have arrested him mechanically without following the due process of law which renders the initial and his continued detention completely illegal," it said.
• "Accused has been falsely implicated in the present case as the allegations levelled against him in the FIR are not only ill founded but also improbable and cannot bring home the charges mentioned in it... Further, the contents of the FIR are vague and based on conjectures and surmises," alleged the plea, also filed through advocates O P Bharti and Jatin Bhatt.
• The bail plea claimed that charging him with being a part of an unlawful assembly was "erroneous", as at no point of time during the alleged incident did the police authorities declare the peaceful protestors to be an unlawful assembly.
• "No motive has been attributed to the accused in the present FIR, and all charges have been added mechanically... Charging the accused with being a part of an unlawful assembly is erroneous, as at no point of time during the alleged incident did the police authorities declare, announce, or proclaim the peaceful protestors to be an unlawful assembly, and nor were any warnings issued or announced in this regard. 
• "It may also be considered that all the material witnesses of the incident are police officials, and therefore it is further unlikely that any witness tampering will be attempted by any individual, especially the accused in the present application," the bail plea said.
• The court had earlier pulled up Tihar jail authorities for acting in a "callous manner" by flouting laws that safeguard a prisoner's right and asked them to ensure that Azad was treated for polycythemia, a disorder of blood thickness, and taken to AIIMS, Delhi.
• It had said that despite knowing Azad's condition, he was given ordinary medical care and not the treatment needed to address his ailment.