A Delhi court on Sunday granted bail to nine India Youth Congress (IYC) workers and dismissed the bail plea of another in connection to a ‘shirtless’ protest at the India AI Impact Summit on February 20.
While opposing the bail pleas, the Police stated that the protest was deliberately held at the summit and not at designated protest sites like Jantar Mantar, adding that their shirts read: “India compromised with America”.
The counsel for the accused stated that they had been interrogated for nine days and that their custody wasn’t required anymore. It was also stated that there was neither a risk of the accused fleeing the country nor of them tampering with evidence.
According to the Delhi Police, the accused had allegedly raised anti-national slogans in the presence of international media. It was further claimed that police personnel who tried to stop them were attacked. The slogans had been allegedly raised to “tarnish the country’s image”.
On February 20, a group of men reached Bharat Mandapam wearing jackets and sweaters. Underneath, they wore T-shirts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture printed on them. They allegedly removed the jackets and sweaters and started raising slogans.
According to the police, the protest was not spontaneous, but executed after prior planning and had a structured allocation of roles, concealment tactics and coordinated post-incident movement. In total, 14 people, all members and office-bearers of the IYC, had been arrested in the case. Five remain in custody.
