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A Srinagar Court has granted bail to Kashmir-based Youtuber Faizal Fayaz Wani who allegedly uploaded a video wherein he was seen beheading Nupur Sharma using VFX.

The City Judge, Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, while granting bail to Wani noted, that the accused has been in police custody for the last 7 days and opined, “the offenses in question are not very severely punished under the law. Thus, there is no reasonable possibility of Wani fleeing the course of justice."

“No useful purpose would be served by the further detention of the accused person in any sort of custody. The refusal of the bail-in such case would be unjust," observed Court.

Wani has been booked for offenses under Sections 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred, or ill will between classes) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The counsel appearing for Wani argued that the video had been deleted immediately and thereafter another video apologizing for the content in the earlier video has been released.

On contrary, counsel appearing for the State submitted that Wani is involved in the commission of serious, grave offences which carries severe punishment and the material and evidence collected during the investigation is prima facie suggestive of the involvement of the accused in the commission of offences as such the above-referred application for bail deserve to be rejected.

Conclusively, Court held that “the refusal of bail in such a case would be unjust. Bail is the rule and jail is an exception". Therefore, the application is allowed and the SHO PS Srinagar is directed to release the accused person on bail provided he furnishes a personal bond in the sum of Rs. 20,000/- with one surety in the same amount, ordered the court.

Case Title: Faizal Fayaz Wani v. UT of J&K through SHO