Bhim Army chief gets bail, can’t stay in Delhi for a month

Newdelhi: twenty-five days after Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad was arrested for allegedly inciting protesters in central Delhi’s Daryaganj, a city court on Wednesday granted him bail on the condition that he would not visit Delhi for the next four weeks, unless it is for medical treatment, and would not be involved in any protests during this period. Kamini Lau, the additional sessions judge in Tis Hazari court, said the decision to keep him out of Delhi was taken to avoid “violence” and “interference” in the Delhi Assembly elections on February 8.

“Why should he stay in Delhi? Is he a voter,” Lau asked Azad’s counsel, Mehmood Pracha, who insisted that the 33-year-old politician be allowed to stay in Delhi. “He may seek to vote from Delhi. He may also want to influence voters (since he is a politician),” said Pracha.

Upon insistence by Pracha, the judge agreed to let Azad visit some religious sites – namely Jama Masjid, the Jor Bagh shrine and Ravidas Temple in Tughlaqabad – to pay “obeisance” within 24 hours of his release. He would then be escorted by the police to his hometown in UP’S Saharanpur where he would have to report to the local station house officer every week. The judge said

Azad would not be allowed to visit Shaheen Bagh – where there are ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. “He cannot stay overnight at Jama Masjid,” Lau added, in a reference to his stay at the religious site for several hours before he surrendered to the police in the early hours of December 2.

On Tuesday, judge Lau had come down heavily on the Delhi Police for not producing any evidence against Azad and had gone on to say that the police were “behaving as if Jama Masjid was Pakistan”.

On Wednesday, however, the judge had words of advice for Azad. Reminding him of his “duties”, she said that he had to make sure his protests did not cause inconvenience to the public and affect their rights. “Protests have to be the last resort. The last resort cannot be the first resort. There has to be dialogue first,” she said.