AI Summit shirtless protest: Alleged conspirator Siddharth Avdhoot gets bail

Delhi's Patiala House Court granted bail to Siddharth Avdhoot, an alleged conspirator in the Shirtless Protest at the AI Impact Summit. He was granted bail on a bond of Rs. 50000 after spending 9 days in police custody.

Patiala House Court on Thursday granted bail to Siddharth Avdhoot, who is an alleged conspirator of the Shirtless Protest during the AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam on February 20. He was arrested in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, along with 2 other accused persons. He has remained in police custody for 9 days. Delhi police produced the accused before the court and sought 14 days' judicial custody. Duty Magistrate Charan Salwan granted bail to Siddharth Avdhoot on a bail bond of Rs. 50000 and a surety bond in the same amount. Advocates Nandita Rao, Roopesh Singh Bhadauria, Chitwan Godara, Sumit Rawat and Rishabh appeared for the accused.

Arguments Presented in Court

It was argued that the other 10 accused have a graver role than Siddharth Avdhoot. He should be granted bail on the grounds of parity.

Delhi police, through Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Atul Shrivastava, opposed the bail application by submitting that the first bail application of the accused had already been rejected by the court. The submissions were opposed by the counsel for the accused. It was submitted that the accused deserves bail in the changed circumstances. Other co-accused have been granted bail. Now the investigation is over in connection with the accused, and the police are seeking judicial custody.

It was also submitted that the accused is not at flight risk; he is a resident of Delhi and has deep roots in the society. There is a scope of tampering with the evidence, as the evidence is in the form of CCTV footage, which is already in the possession of the Delhi police. There is also no scope for influencing the witnesses, as the witnesses are police personnel in this case.

APP Atul Shrivastav opposed the submissions by stating that the accused does not deserve bail on parity as he has grave allegations against him. He designed the T-shirts and got them published through other people. Delhi Police also said that 2 accused are still on the run. The accused designed the whole protest. He went to Bharat Mandapam on February 17 and recced the venue. He chose the place of protest where the Google stall was set up. Police also said that the protest was designed to harm the reputation of the country at the international level.

The submissions were opposed by the counsel for the accused, by stating that he is accused of getting the T-shirts printed. All offences are punishable with a maximum punishment of up to 5 years only. In this situation, he deserves to be released on bail.

Court's Decision

After hearing the submissions, the court granted bail to Siddharth Avdhoot.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)