Observing that it was a case of mob fury and not a premeditated attack on policemen, the Bombay high court last week granted bail to 16 people, mostly truck drivers and cleaners, who had staged a protest at JNPT port in January.
Observing that it was a case of mob fury and not a premeditated attack on policemen, the Bombay high court last week granted bail to 16 people, mostly truck drivers and cleaners, who had staged a protest at JNPT port in January.
Justice Sadhana Jadhav granted bail to Sanjaykumar Singh and 15 others on a personal bond of Rs 15,000 with one surety of like amount. Earlier, 25 people had been arrested for pelting stones on the police, which left three cops injured, and damaging public property.
On January 18, truck drivers and cleaners had gone on a rampage after they were stranded for several hours due to a strike by special crane operators at JNPT.
What was the truck drivers' argument?
The accused had sought bail on the grounds that the cops should have shown some sensitivity towards the inconvenience caused to them. They said they were on road without any food and basic amenities for more than 48 hours and had no other alternative. "Further though it is true that the manner of ventilating grievance was not right, but there was no criminality. That they had no intention to cause any injury to the police officers and therefore, such incident has occurred on the spur of the moment," stated their bail plea.
Did prosecution oppose it?
Yes. The prosecution contended that despite the fact that there was inconvenience to the drivers and cleaners, they had no right to damage public property. It said the protesters attacked the police when the latter were to pacify them and requesting them not to take the law into their own hands. "No leniency should be shown to them," said the prosecution.
Why were protesters given bail?
The court after going through the investigation papers noted that all the witnesses are policemen, so tampering of evidence is ruled out. Also, since the statements of all the persons concerned have been recorded, a case for bail is made out, it said.
What are the bail conditions?
The court has directed the accused to furnish their permanent address as well as any other address in Maharashtra, and cellphone numbers with an undertaking that in case it changes, they will keep the police informed about it immediately.
"Furnish landline numbers and cellphone numbers of one of the nearest family members. Also submit an undertaking to the police station that they would remain present for all the dates, scheduled for trial and also at the time of filing of charge sheet," said the court.
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