Additional Sessions Judge Anil Antil of the Patiala House court has denied regular bail to accused Preet Singh who allegedly raised inflammatory and anti-Muslim slogans at Jantar Mantar, on August 8. The court observed that he could be seen “actively participating in the incendiary speeches along with his other associates.”
Earlier on August 12, Preet Singh, along with co accused – Vinod Sharma and Deepak Singh – were denied bail by the Metropolitan Magistrate Udbhav Kumar Jain. They had filed an application under section 437 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (bail in cases of non bailable offence). As previously reported by SabrangIndia, MM Jain watched the video footage of the sloganeering, and observed that accused Deepak Singh and Preet Singh were seen together making “scathing remarks which are undemocratic and uncalled for from a citizen of this country where principles like Secularism hold the value of basic feature imbibed in the Constitution.”
In the present application filed under section 439 of CrPC (special powers of High court and sessions court for grant of bail), ASJ Anil observed, “Prime facie on the basis of the material placed on record and the submissions put forth by the prosecution, it is observed that there has been active participation by the applicant in his individual capacity and also as the main organizer of the event itself which was conducted at Jantar Mantar in spite of the denial of permission by the Delhi Police and total disregard to Covid19 protocol issued by the Govt. of India.”
After perusing the audio and video evidence against Preet Singh, the court observed that the key attendees of the protest and others seemed to have been invited by him. ASJ Anil said, “Given the stature of the applicant, it was expected that he ought to have exercised his authority, in these circumstances, and prevented participants from erring such inflammatory opinions in the larger interest of the public/Committee welfare. On the other hand, the applicant is clearly seen actively participating in the incendiary speeches along with his other associates.”
The court further held that even though the right to assemble and freedom to air once thoughts are cherished by the Constitution, they are “not absolute”, and they are to be exercised “with inherent reasonable restrictions”. He further held, “the applicant (Preet) not only voluntarily organised the event but also actively participated and provided support to the views and contents of the inflammatory speeches, which were being made by the participants/accused persons at that time, by acknowledging and endorsing via gestures and clapping intermittently”.
The event the court referred to was the August 8 protest, organized at Jantar Mantar to demand for some legislations before the government as part of the “Bharat Jodo Movement” against colonial-era laws in the country.
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Furthermore, ASJ Anil observed that many accused persons in this case are absconding and evading the law. Since the entire incriminating material is yet to be recovered, the court said, “…in backdrop of the fact that the applicant was an active main organiser of the event, an influential personality and there is possibility of him interfering in the investigation and/or influencing the witnesses of the case”. Accordingly, his bail plea was dismissed.
Co-accused Pinky Chaudhary alias Bhupendar Tomar, Hindu Raksha Dal President, was denied anticipatory bail by ASJ Anil on August 21. He observed that Tomar’s interview is “impregnated with high octane communal barbs, laced with inflammatory, insulting and threatening gestures, ex facie indicative of the calculative design on the part of the applicant to promote hatred and ill will amongst other sections of the community”.
As we had previously reported in SabrangIndia, the court further said, “We are not a Taliban state. Rule of law is the sacrosanct governing principle in our plural and multi-cultural society. While the whole of India is celebrating Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav, there are some minds still chained with intolerant and self-centric beliefs”.
The order may be read here:
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