An additional district court in Lucknow on Friday granted bail to social activists Sarwan Ram Darapuri, Sadaf Jafar, Pawan Rao Ambedkar and others who were arrested for the December 19 anti-CAA protests in Lucknow which had turned violent.
The court of Justice Sanjay Shanker Pandey called into question Lucknow police’s contention that the people brought before it were directly involved in inciting violence.
Darapuri’s son Ved Kumar told THE WEEK, “The court expressed its displeasure at the manner in which people were picked up randomly and charged with inciting violence”.
Darapuri, 77, who is lodged in Lucknow jail was not brought to the court for the bail hearing. He is a retired Indian Police Service officer. There is no clarity on whether or not he has been served with a recovery notice—Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed that all those who were involved in the destruction of public property would have to pay for it, and if unable to do so their property would be auctioned. He shall remain in jail till a surety bond of Rs 50,000 is furnished in his name. He was under house arrest on the day of the protests.
“I do not know the status of his health. However, as an elderly person suffering from cancer, he is bound to have faced physical distress in jail,” Kumar said.
Darapuri was arrested under Sections 147, 148, 149, 152, 307, 323, 504, 506, 332, 353, 188, 534, 436, 120-B, 427 of the IPC and other Acts.
Jafar, a teacher, activist and actor, was the only woman to be jailed. She had been picked up by the police when she was filming the protests. Among those who had made pleas for her arrest was film director Mira Nair whose screen adaptation of A Suitable Boy, Jafar is a part of.
Meanwhile, the bail hearing of Mohammed Shoaib, a 72-year-old advocate and activist, who heads a forum for the release of those accused falsely of terrorism, shall come up for hearing on January 6 before the High Court. Shoaib was also under house arrest when the violence broke out. He was taken from his home at 11.45 pm on December 19, but the police submitted before the court that he was picked up from the scene of the protest. A writ of Habeas Corpus has been filed on his behalf. The state has sought time to file a rejoinder in light of the material regarding the arrest put before the court by Shoaib’s advocate.