Allahabad HC grants bail to 2 men accused of chanting Hanuman Chalisa outside mosque

Prayagraj, Jun 5 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has granted bail to two persons accused of chanting 'Hanuman Chalisa' outside a mosque in Meerut.
     According to the prosecution, the applicants, Sachin Sirohi and Sanjay Samarval, along with some other persons were forcibly reciting 'Hanuman Chalisa' at a religious place belonging to another religion and thereby they were promoting enmity and hatred on the ground of religion.
     The counsel for applicants submitted that they are innocent and they have been falsely implicated in this case due to political enmity. There was no credible evidence against the applicants, the counsel said.
     The Uttar Pradesh government's counsel and the counsel for the aggrieved persons opposed the prayer for bail, submitting that there were allegations against the applicants that they had recited the Hanuman Chalisa in a religious place belonging to the Mohammedan religion to disturb harmony and thereby promote enmity based on religion.
     It was also submitted that in view of the allegations made against the applicants, they were not entitled to bail.
     Justice Rajbeer Singh granted bail to Sirohi and Samarval.
     In its order on Tuesday, the court observed, "The instant matter, considering submissions of learned counsel for the parties, nature of accusations, period of detention and all attending facts and circumstances of the case, without expressing any opinion on the merits, a case for bail is made out. Accordingly, bail application is allowed.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)