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A Haryana Court on Monday granted bail to accused Ram Bhagat Gopal alleged to have engaged in act(s) of hate speech qua instigating, abduction and killing of girls and persons of a particular religious community.

The Additional Sessions Judge, Gurugram  Dr. D.N.Bhardwaj while granting bail to the accused, noted that at the time of deciding bail application, totalities of facts and circumstances of the particular case are to be considered.

“The offences in the present case are triable by Magistrate. The applicant is in custody since 12.7.2021 and is about 19 years of age. He is not required for any recovery etc. Trial is likely to take considerable time. Keeping in view totality of the facts and circumstances of the case and without commenting anything on merits, I am of the view that the application for bail filed by applicant-accused Gopal Sharma @ Rambhagat deserves to be allowed. Accordingly, the present bail application is allowed.”

The applicant/accused sought bail in connection with offence under sections 153A, 295A IPC. The allegations against him were that he, in a Maha Panchayat held at Pataudi, uttered words which were promotive of religious disharmony and hatred and outraged religious feelings of a particular community which could be prejudicial to the maintenance of religious harmony and endanger law and order situation.

Taking into account the factual matrix of the present case the Judge observed that,

“The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of speech to all citizens. The freedom is not wild free. There are reasonable restrictions also on this freedom of speech. Similarly, freedom of life and liberty of a person is equally important and guaranteed by the Constitution but keeping in view the fundamental principle of criminal jurisprudence balance between the societal interests viz-a-viz personal liberty is to be maintained. The balance is very fine and delicate.”

Before parting with the order, the Judge made it clear that, the bail order was further subject to the condition that during pendency of this case, applicant-accused Rambhagat should not,

• organize or attend or address any public gathering which is likely to promote disharmony or feeling of enmity, hatered or illwill between religious/racial groups/community or any gathering which is prejudicial to the maintenance of religious harmony or likely to disturb the public tranquility or
• to cause fear or alarm or a feeling of insecurity amongst members of any religious group/community or to outrage the religious feelings of any religious group/community,
• nor the applicant-accused accept any recognition or felicitations from any person or group or society etc. individually or collectively, in connection with this case or any other case of the abovementioned nature.

It must be noted that this is the second bail application. Previously, the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class (JMI) Mohd. Sageer while dismissing the bail application being devoid of any merit had observed that,

“The alleged offenses committed by the accused person are very serious and severe in nature. The consequences of these kinds of activities may be far more dangerous and it may translate into communal violence.”

The Learned counsels for the applicant-accused Rambhagat Gopal Sharma had submitted in the bail application that,

• The applicant is innocent and have been falsely implicated in the present case.
• The case is false and concocted and applicant has not committed any offence.
• The whole story of the prosecution is cooked up and false one and there is no truth in the FIR and the video recording is false and fabricated one and the applicant-accused has no concern with the video.
• The trial will take long time to conclude and also that the accused is of young age and custody of applicant is not required.

[Case Title - Rambhagat Gopal Sharma v. State of Hayana]