The Delhi Police on Friday arrested eight persons in connection with the violence that took place during pollution protests at the India Gate, hours after the eight were granted bail in another case linked to the same incident.
Following the rearrest, the eight persons were produced before judicial magistrate Aridaman Singh Cheema of the Patiala House Courts. The police moved an application for two-day police custody, but the court, however, sent all eight to seven days of judicial custody.
Two FIRs have been lodged in the matter. The first, at the Kartavya Path police station, names eight students, including a minor, under sections related to assault on public servants, criminal conspiracy, molestation, obstructing police, disobedience of orders, and BNS Section 197 (imputations prejudicial to national integration), which was added later. Seventeen other accused, including 11 women, are in judicial custody and are scheduled to be produced in court on Thursday.
In court, the police said that the accused were spotted in CCTV footage raising anti-national slogans, manhandling police personnel, obstructing traffic and causing nuisance. They also said the accused were seen using pepper-spray on police constables.
The counsels for the eight, however, contended that the arrest was a “ploy” by the Delhi Police to keep the accused students in jail despite them being granted bail in the case they were initially arrested.
In connection with the FIR lodged at Kartavya Path Police Station, six persons are already in police custody, while at the Parliament Street police station, nine persons of a total of 17 arrested have been granted bail. However, almost all of them have been arrested again in connection with the Kartavya Path police station FIR.
In a common bail order passed by judicial magistrate Sahil Monga in the Parliament Street police FIR, the court noted that the core allegations in the FIR pertained to a scuffle between police personnel and students while they were being dispersed from the police station’s gate.
The order said that the concerns regarding the accused’s absconding or tampering with evidence can be addressed by imposing reasonable conditions. “Further custodial detention is not necessary, as the IO has not sought police custody and investigation does not appear to require the accuser’s incarceration,” the court said. They were released on a bail bond of ₹20,000.
Sunday’s sit-in began when students from Delhi University and other institutions gathered at the India Gate under the banner of the Delhi Coordination Committee for Clean Air. Police alleged there was no permission for the protest and that participants turned confrontational when they moved to disperse the crowd. Five students were initially arrested, followed by 17 more outside the Parliament Street police station.