Ex-BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay gets bail in Jantar Mantar anti-muslim sloganeering case

Former Delhi BJP Spokesperson and Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay was allowed bail by a Delhi Court on Wednesday in connection with the anti- Muslims slogans raised at an event organized at Jantar Mantar on Sunday (August 8th).

Court of Metropolitan Magistrate Udbhav Kumar Jain who passed the order has also asked Upadhyay to deposit a surety of Rs. 50,000.

Senior Advocates Vikas Singh, Sidharth Luthra, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Pradeep Rai appeared for Ashwini Upadhyay. Singh argued that Ashwani had visited Jantar Mantar in the morning. The incident, as clear form the video, occurred at 5pm, reports Live Law.

He further stated that prosecution's argument that Upadhyay failed to report the incident to the Police falls flat on its face for the reason that he was not present there at the time. "How will I inform when I was not there?" he asked.

Advocate Ashwani Dubey told the Court that Upadhyay had written an email to the Police authorities, asking them to arrest the culprits, as soon as he was made aware of the incidents through viral videos circulating on social media. He is also stated to have offered to cooperate with the investigation.

Videos of mob at the gathering shouting slogans openly calling for the killing of Muslims had emerged on Sunday. Upadhyay claimed that the slogans were raised after the meeting organized by him was over. He had organized a meeting calling for the repeal of "colonial-era laws".

Yesterday, Duty Magistrate Tanvi Khurana remanded Upadhyay to two days' judicial custody. Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava had argued that Ashwini Upadhyay held the gathering despite the denial of permission for the same by the Delhi police.

The Prosecutor also submitted that Upadhyay, as a lawyer who has filed several petitions in the Supreme Court, knows the law and he knowingly committed the violations.

Earlier on Tuesday, Delhi police had detained around 100 student activists and civil society members who gathered near Jantar Mantar to protest the alleged inflammatory sloganeering at a rally over the weekend.

Students activists from various organisations including All India Students Association (AISA), Students Federation of India (SFI) and Fraternity Movement were detained and later released after intense protest organised outside Mandir Marg police statio