Bengaluru, Feb 19: Pointing out that there was a deliberate attempt to cover up police excesses by implicating innocent persons at whim, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday granted conditional bail to 21 people who were accused by police of involving in violence during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Mangaluru.
Allowing the bail petitions of Ashik and 20 others from Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, Justice John Michael Cunha said the overzealousness of the police is also evident from the fact that FIRs were registered under Section 307 of IPC against the persons killed by the police themselves.
“In an offence involving a large number of people, the identity and participation of each accused must be fixed with reasonable certainty. In the present cases, the identity appears to have been fixed on the basis of their affiliation to PFI and they being members of the Muslim community. Though it is stated that the involvement of the petitioners is captured in CCTV footage and photographs, no such material is produced before the court showing the presence of any of the petitioners at the spot, armed with deadly weapons,” the judge noted.
In the statement of objections filed by the State Public Prosecutor-I, it was stated that there was a hint of Muslim youths holding protest on December 19, 2019, opposing the implementation of CAA. Prohibitory orders were clamped in that connection. This assertion indicated that the common object of the assembly was to oppose the implementation of CAA and National Register for Citizens (NRC) which, by itself, was not an “unlawful object”, the judge pointed out.
‘Pics show cops throwing stones at crowd’
Justice Cunha also said the material collected by the investigators did not contain any specific evidence regarding the presence of any of the petitioners at the spot. On the other hand, omnibus allegations were made against the Muslim crowd of 1,500-2,000, alleging that they were armed with weapons like stones, soda bottles and glass pieces. The photographs produced by the SPP depicted that hardly any member of the crowd were armed with weapons, except one of them holding a bottle. In none of these photographs, police station or policemen were seen in the vicinity, the judge noted.
“On the other hand, photographs produced by the petitioners show that the policemen themselves were pelting stones at the crowd. The petitioners have produced copies of the complaints lodged by the dependants of the deceased who died due to police firing and the endorsement made thereon reveals that even though the law required the police to register independent FIRs in view of the specific complaint made against the police officers making out cognizable offences, the police have failed to register FIRs. This goes to show that a deliberate attempt is underway to cover up police excesses by implicating innocent persons at the whims and caprice of the police,” the judge observed.
In the wake of counter-allegations against the police and in the backdrop of their failure to register FIRs based on complaints lodged by the families of victims, the possibility of false and mistaken implication could not be ruled out, the judge said. In these circumstances, it would be a travesty of justice to deny bail to the petitioners and sacrifice their liberties to the mercy of the district administration and police. The records indicate that a deliberate attempt has been made to trump up evidence and to deprive the liberties of the petitioners by fabricating evidence. None of the petitioners have any criminal antecedents, the court said.
“The allegations levelled against the petitioners are not punishable with death or imprisonment for life. There is no direct evidence to connect them with the alleged offence. The investigation appears to be malafide and partisan. In the circumstances, in order to protect the rights and liberties of the petitioners, it is necessary to admit them to bail,” the judge said.
The petitioners were arrested and remanded in judicial custody after the anti-CAA protests on charges of being members of an unlawful assembly, armed with lethal weapons, attempting to set fire to the North Police Station in Mangaluru, obstructing the police from discharging their duties and causing damage to public property, etc., on December 19 in violation of the prohibitory orders. They moved the High Court as their bail pleas had been rejected by a sessions court in Dakshina Kannada.
Comments
anybody got their grevences answered here
corporation lights of cemetrey not glowing since two months. On 1st November 2019 is holy souls day. Kindly repair the lights at the earliest.
Fr. Joseph J. Lobo
Parish Priest
Street light is not working since 15 days. On 23rd July 2019 complaint lodged with Mobile No7353933410. Till date they are not responding
hello / madam
Keeping the city clean is our duty. I know not everybody is following that. We need some awareness program
to keep our city clean green and hygenic. Its our duty to keep the environment clean and place around us.
But it is also the duty of Corporation to maintain the cleanliness aroud the city, in some parts of the city like market, near clock tower circle its not been getting cleaned from past few days. Please do the needfull for betterment of tomorrow
thank you
Dear Madam, I have purchased 1 BHK flat in Green City, Vamadapadav on October, 2013 and paid full amount to builder T3 Urban Developers LTD. As per agreement possession was in December, 2015 but still building is not ready.
There were 5 buildings in Green City and at a time builder started 3 buildings construction work. I have purchased middle of the building and that building 1st floor slab only completed and since long time work stopped.
Last year builder agreed to give me flat in 1st building but building’s interior work is still pending and since 1 year work totally stopped.
Presently builder is not picking call or not responding for query. It seems that he is cheating with me. Kindly help me to resolve this issue. I will be grateful to you.
Sir/Madam,
Four street lights are not working on Raghavendra Matt Road, Hosabettu, Surathkal since long.
The roads are in Shabby condition and hence difficult in the night to Padastrians.
Kindly arrange to replace the treet lights on Main road, Raghavendra Matt Road, Hosabettu, near and after the Areca Field.
the kalbavi road in kottara ashok nagar was provided with ugd pipe line during last year. as usual the centre of road was dug up in march 2018 for this purpose making the road not motorable during the monsoon of 2018.
the asphalt work is now planned now during nov2018 by mcc. this road is very narrow and not having the foot path or road side drain at all.
both the ugd agency as well as the asphalting agency have put the muck/soil on the sides of the road, making it now impossible to walk when there is traffic. also during monsoons , storm water from the entire stretch for about 500 ft will flow on this road itself which is diverted to my compound/pure water sump due to the faulty work of mcc.
in spite of repeated requests/complaints to the commissioner,corporators, engineers of mcc, publishing of the photos of the same in some news papers,action is yet to be taken.
now at least it is requested to remove all the above dumped muck /soil on either sides of this road which is also preventing the entry of monsoon water th the existing drain near the starting point of sagar court.
Street light not working at kulai kavinakallu 2nd street
Relevant department has to look into the matter seriously and work on it and mark the matter as closed so that its notified as closed. Its a good move for public and public workers to work hand in hand
Add new comment