Congress worker Sadaf Jafar and retired IPS officer S.R. Darapuri were among 14 persons granted bail by a Lucknow court on Saturday in connection with violence in the Uttar Pradesh capital on December 19 during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act .
Additional Sessions Judge S.S. Pandey passed the bail order and asked the accused to furnish two bail bonds of ₹50,000 each and personal bonds of the same amount. The 12 others granted bail included Dalit lecturer Pavan Rao Ambedkar.
As per the FIR, 34 named persons were charged under 18 Sections of the IPC and the Public Property Act.
The charges include serious ones like rioting, attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy.
However, the charges have been questioned by the Congress and the families of Ms. Jafar and Mr. Darapuri.
In a detailed memorandum signed by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and submitted to Governor Anandiben Patel, the Congress said Ms. Jafar was arrested from the spot “without cause or reason” while she was recording a video when the protests turned violent.
The party and Ms. Jafar’s family also alleged that she, a single mother with two minor children, was “brutally assaulted” by police officers in custody.
The family of Mr. Darapuri also questioned his arrest. The Mr. Darapuri, 76-year-old retired IPS officer and Ambedkarite activist, was under house arrest on December 19 when the violence took place. His son Ved Kumar recently told The Hindu that Mr. Darapuri did not attend the protest but posted a photo of himself holding a placard which read "Save Citizenship," on Facebook to express solidarity.
The next morning at around 11:45 a.m., a group fo about nine policemen came to his residence and arrested Mr. Darapuri without informing his family where he was being taken, they said.
Known for voicing issues concerning the marginalised, Mr. Darapuri also contested the Lok Sabha election in 2019 from the backward area of Sonbhadraa and his family claims he was was implicated due to his activism.
"Satyamev Jayate (truth alone triumphs," Mr. Ved told The Hindu after his father was granted bail.
Will support victims: Priyanka
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday visited the families of those who allegedly faced police excesses in Meerut and Muzaffarnagar. “We will go wherever there has been injustice and stand with them and support [the victims],” she said after visiting the families in Muzaffarnagar.
Police beat up people “without any reason,” she said. “Nobody has an objection when police acts against those who do something. But here, police entered the homes and beat up [people]. They broke the items kept for the girl’s [Ruqaiya] marriage. She has 16 stitches on her forehead,” Ms. Vadra said after meeting Ruqaiya Parveen, whose house was allegedly ransacked by police.
Policemen allegedly barged into her grandfather Haji Hamid Hasan Hasan's house and went on a rampage damaging furniture and looted cash from the drawers he was saving for the marriage of his granddaughters. Mr. Hasan was assaulted with lathis and also hit with the butt of a rifle, as per accounts. The marriage of his granddaughters Ruqaiya and Mubashshira is coming up in February.
In Muzaffarnagar, Ms. Vadra met Maulana Asad Raza Hussaini, who was allegedly beaten up by the police during a crackdown on the protests against the CAA.
Ms. Vadra said Mr Hussaini was in a madrassa with children when the police assaulted him “mercilessly”. Many, including minors, were put in jail, she said, adding that only some of them were released.
