Summit Protest: HC Relief For IYC Chief Seeking Bail

New Delhi: Paving the way for the release of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Uday Bhanu Chib from custody, Delhi High Court on Monday stayed a sessions court order that had halted his bail in connection with the AI Summit protest case.In an urgent hearing, Justice Saurabh Banerjee observed that the sessions judge had paused the magistrate's order without explaining why it was a rare case requiring immediate intervention against the grant of bail. Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Amit Bansal last week stayed the magistrate's order, hours after it was passed. "Some application of mind has to be there. If there is no application of mind, the order has to be stayed," Justice Banerjee orally observed.
Appearing for the Indian Youth Congress president, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra highlighted the failure of the sessions court to follow the dictum laid down by Supreme Court that an interim order staying bail should be passed in rare and exceptional cases and should give reasons. "You see page 1. Turn over the page. Where is the reasoning or finding?" Justice Banerjee asked the counsel for Delhi Police as he opposed the plea.The high court recorded that the additional sessions judge granted the stay by merely noting that it was a rare and very exceptional case "without according... as to what is the rare and very exceptional case". The court said prima facie it was "not satisfied" with the ASJ's order and emphasised that an order affecting personal liberty must disclose reasons.On Feb 28, the sessions court put an interim stay on Chib's bail granted on the same day. The high court noted, "When the court exercises the power of granting ex parte ad interim stay of an order granting bail, the court is duty-bound to record reasons."The trial court had first sent Chib to police custody for four days after his arrest in connection with the "shirtless" protest by IYC workers at Bharat Mandapam, the venue of India AI Impact Summit, on Feb 20.Some Indian Youth Congress workers had entered the summit venue, wearing and holding white T-shirts with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump printed on them, along with slogans against the India-US trade deal. Chib, who didn't take part in the protest, was arrested as the alleged mastermind behind the protest.