Hours After Grant, Court Stays Uday Bhanu Chib’s Bail Till March 6

New Delhi: In a turn of events, a Delhi court on Saturday stayed the bail granted to Indian Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib in connection with the ‘shirtless' protest at the AI Summit 2026, hours after a magistrate had ordered his release at around 1am following his production at her official residence. Additional sessions judge Amit Bansal stayed the bail order until March 6, terming it a rare and exceptional case warranting an ex-parte interim stay of the order passed at 3.30am by duty magistrate Vanshika Mehta. The court noted that a very strong "prima facie case" had been made out against the accused by the prosecution.
Earlier, magistrate Mehta had granted bail to Chib, observing that "no person shall be devoid of liberty on mere conjectures or primarily because the co-accused persons are yet to be arrested," and that "personal liberty is a cherished constitutional value, and its deprivation must be justified strictly in accordance with law." However, the State opposed the bail order, contending that it was granted "without any valid legal reason and without any bail application" having been moved on behalf of the accused. It argued that although the order recorded that the court was deciding a bail application, no such application was filed or supplied to the State or the investigating officer, thereby "depriving them of the opportunity to file a reply." "There are a total of 14 arrested accused persons in this case who all were in police custody, however, the magistrate without any valid legal reason and without any bail application moved on behalf of the accused Uday Bhanu Chib granted bail to the said accused," the prosecution submitted. Public prosecutor Atul Srivastav further argued that "prima facie" grounds existed for extending police custody remand, as key conspirators, including Manish Sharma and Vishwajeet, remain absconding. The prosecution maintained that Chib, described as the "main conspirator" behind the Feb 20 incident, was required to be confronted with co-accused in custody and with digital evidence, including communication trails, WhatsApp groups, internal instructions, CCTV footage and financial coordination. On Feb 20, several men allegedly entered the venue of AI Summit 2026 wearing T-shirts bearing images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, along with slogans against the govt and the India-US trade deal.