Delhi Court Grants Bail To 9 Indian Youth Congress Workers Arrested In ‘Shirtless Protest’ At AI Summit, Says Pre-Trial Detention Cannot Become Punishment

Judicial Magistrate First Class Ravi passed the order on Sunday, i.e. March 1, while allowing the bail pleas of Krishna Hari, Narshimha Yadav, Kundan Kumar Yadav, Ajay Kumar Singh, Jitendra Singh Yadav, Raja Gurjar, Ajay Kumar Vimal alias Bantu, Saurabh Singh and Arbaz Khan.

The court described the demonstration as a form of symbolic political dissent rather than a criminal act warranting prolonged custody.

“The protest, at highest, constituted symbolic political critique during a public event: T-shirts with leadership imagery, non-inciteful slogans bereft of communal/regional taint, and transient assembly. No evidence discloses property defacement, or delegate panic; exit was orderly via escort,” the court observed.

The nine accused were arrested following a protest staged on February 20 at the AI summit venue, where they allegedly entered wearing or holding white T-shirts bearing images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former US President Donald Trump, along with slogans such as “India-US Trade Deal”, “Epstein Files” and “PM is compromised.”

According to the prosecution, the protesters raised slogans critical of the India-US trade deal in the presence of international media and scuffled with security personnel and police officials deployed at the venue.

Opposing the bail applications, Delhi Police contended that while the Constitution guarantees the right to peaceful protest, such a right is subject to reasonable restrictions. It alleged that when police attempted to stop the accused, they attacked police personnel, resulting in injuries supported by medical evidence.

However, the court found no material suggesting that the protest escalated into violence of a nature justifying continued incarceration. It noted that there was no evidence of property damage, panic among delegates, or disruption beyond the immediate demonstration.

Addressing the broader principles governing bail, the Magistrate underscored that pre-trial detention cannot be used as a substitute for punishment.

“It noted that the pre-trial detention, severed from any imperative necessity and devoid of persisting investigative demands, could illicit pre-emptive punishment antecedent to conviction,” the order stated.

The court further remarked that such detention would amount to “a profound aberration fundamentally at odds with the bedrock axioms of criminal jurisprudence, which exalt liberty as the governing norm and incarceration as the narrowly circumscribed exception.”

Interestingly, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) National President Uday Bhanu Chib was released from Tihar Jail on March 3, after the Delhi High Court on March 2, stayed a sessions court's order that had put Chib's bail on hold. Justice Saurabh Banerjee had remarked that the sessions court's order was "devoid of reasons" and showed "no application of mind".

On February 28, the court had remanded Chib to judicial custody, even as he had been granted bail earlier in the day. The court had directed verification of the surety bond furnished on Chib’s behalf and sought a report by tomorrow. Pending verification, the court ordered that he be remanded to judicial custody.

Previously, on February 21, the court had remanded four Indian Youth Congress (IYC) leaders to five days’ police custody in connection with a protest at the AI Impact Summit held at Bharat Mandapam in the national capital. Judicial Magistrate Ravi of the Patiala House Courts allowed the Delhi Police’s plea seeking custodial interrogation of the accused. A detailed order is awaited. The four arrested protesters: Krishna Hari, National Secretary of the IYC from Bihar; Kundan Yadav, IYC State Secretary, Bihar; Ajay Kumar, IYC State President, Uttar Pradesh; and Narasimha Yadav from Telangana, were produced before the court amid heavy security arrangements.