The Karnataka High Court recently denied bail to 41 people accused in the 2022 Hubballi riots case, in which a mob of thousands pelted stones at a police station.
A division bench of Justice B Veerappa and Justice Venkatesh Naik dismissed the criminal appeal filed by the 41 accused in connection with the April 2022 attack on the Old Hubballi police station.
Following the stone-pelting incident, a case was filed against 140 people under various provisions of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). According to reports, the mob was enraged that a photograph of a saffron flag on the dome of a mosque was being circulated.
After their bail applications were denied by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, the 41 accused moved the High Court.
Advocate S Balakrishnan for the accused argued that they could not be declared members of a terrorist organization because none of them belonged to any of the 43 banned organizations listed in Section 35 of the UAPA.
Furthermore, he claimed that Section 16(1)(a) applied only if the act resulted in a death, which had not occurred. He also stated that there was no prima facie case to invoke Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy) of the UAPA.
He also claimed that the facts of the current case differed from the judgments relied on by the trial Court.
Special Public Prosecutor VM Sheelvant, on the other hand, claimed that thousands of people gathered in front of the police station to throw stones, causing damage to public property and injuries to a few police officers. As a result, claiming that the accused had committed serious crimes, he requested that their bail applications be denied.
The bench determined that the accused were clearly involved in heinous offences of causing religious disharmony in society, thereby disrupting public peace and tranquility, and that their involvement could be traced back to CCTV footage and call detail records.
“On perusal of the impugned order passed by the learned Sessions Judge rejecting the bail applications…it is clear that the accused persons were involved in heinous offences of creating religious disharmony amongst the society leading to disturbance of public peace and tranquillity and their involvement can be traced out from the CCTV footages, call detail records etc,” the bench remarked.
As a result, the bench denied the accused’s bail applications and upheld the special court order.
