India News | Uttarakhand High Court Grants Bail to Banbhoolpura Riot Accused
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday granted default bail to two people accused in the February 2024 riots in the Banbhoolpura area of Haldwani.
Nainital, Jan 8 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday granted default bail to two people accused in the February 2024 riots in the Banbhoolpura area of Haldwani.
A division bench of the high court comprising Justice Manoj Tiwari and Justice Pankaj Purohit granted bail to Arshad Ayub and Javed Siddiqui who were implicated along with several others in connection with the riots.
They had reserved the judgement on January 2.
An FIR was lodged in the case on February 8 when riots broke out in the Muslim-dominated Banbhoolpura area of the town over the demolition of an illegal madrasa and a small structure built within its precincts to offer prayers.
As a chargesheet was not filed within 90 days, 50 others accused in the case obtained default bail from the high court on August 29, 2024.
According to the provisions of Section 167 of the CrPC, if the investigation of a case is not completed within 90 days, the accused persons shall be entitled to get default bail.
However, before Siddiqui and Ayub could apply for bail, section 43D of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act section was invoked, which gave the right to the prosecution to get the period of detention extended to a maximum of 180 days.
Appearing for the applicants, advocate Prashant Bhushan said that the extension given by the additional sessions judge was bad in law since the applicants were not given an opportunity to contest the extension.
It affects the right of personal liberty of the applicants, he said.
On being asked why would they not seek a regular bail, Bhushan said filing of chargesheet on a date later than 90 days does not defeat the right of the accused for default bail.
The state contended that there were more than 108 witnesses to be examined before filing of the chargesheet and DVR (digital video recorder) was recovered from the house of the main accused two days before the expiry of the term of 90 days.
After hearing the arguments of both sides, the division bench reserved the judgement on January 2. On Wednesday, the court granted default bail to both.
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