HC REJECTS BAIL APPLICATION OF MLA AJAY RAI

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court has rejected the bail application of Congress MLA Ajay Rai in pursuance of the FIR lodged in connection with the violence during ‘Anyay Pratikar Yatra’ in Varanasi on October 5, 2015.

The yatra was organised in protest against the police lathicharge on seers including Swami Avimukteshwaranand of Vidya Mutt and others during their dharna staged between September 21 and 23, 2015 against a ban on immersion of Ganesha idols in the Ganga.

The order was passed by justice RD Khare on the bail application of Rai who was arrested after an FIR was lodged at Dashashwamedh police station of Varanasi in this regard.

The FIR was registered by police alleging unlawful assembly, dacoity, obstruction in official work and for destruction of public property.

Apart from these offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the National Security Act (NSA) has also been invoked against him.

The court after hearing both the parties observed, “This court is of the opinion that no good ground is made out for enlarging the applicant on bail” and then the court rejected the bail application of Rai, an MLA from Pindra assembly of Varanasi.

Last year, the Allahabad high court had directed that no idols would be immersed in rivers flowing through Uttar Pradesh, making an exception for Varanasi only for a year. That period ended this year.