Northeast Delhi riots: Court grants bail to man accused of being part of mob

A court in New Delhi has granted bail to a man whose profile photo was allegedly used for tweeting a photograph of a rioting incident during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, saying there was no "clear-cut evidence" against him. The accused was arrested after being identified by the complainant in the present case as being part of the riotous mob.

The court was hearing the bail application of Anant Bhardwaj, who was arrested in connection with a rioting incident in Dayalpur in February 2020.

“The application is allowed and the applicant (Bhardwaj) is admitted to bail on his furnishing personal bond and surety bond in the sum of Rs 10,000 with one surety in the like amount,” Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala said in an order passed on Monday.

The court noted the submissions of the Investigating Officer (IO) that Bhardwaj was arrested at Dayalpur police station after being identified by complainant Juber as a member of the riotous mob.

The IO also said police had already filed a charge sheet against two other accused, while Bhardwaj was “traced after several efforts.” “There is no clear-cut evidence against the applicant except for ocular evidence of the complainant…there is no confirmation regarding the applicant actually being there in the photograph posted on Twitter,” the court said.

It said Bhardwaj made two online complaints about someone tweeting a photograph of the rioting incident using his profile photo, but it was not investigated by the IO.

“IO informed in response to a query of the court that till date, he has not verified the status and outcome of the online complaint made by the applicant regarding the use of his profile photo with the aforesaid photo on Twitter,” the court said.

The court also noted the prosecution had earlier sent a notice to Twitter seeking details of the account holder, who had posted the photograph of the rioting incident, but the social media networking service could not provide the information as the account had been closed. Bhardwaj’s advocate sought bail, saying the applicant was falsely implicated in the case and, during the analysis of his mobile phone location, he was not found present at the place of occurrence.