AI protest: IYC chief sent to 4-day custody

Hours after his arrest, a city court on Tuesday remanded Indian Youth Congress (IYC) national president Uday Bhanu Chib to four days’ police custody in connection with the shirtless protest at Bharat Mandapam during the AI Impact Summit on February 20. Chib was

arrested after about 15 hours of questioning at the Tilak Marg police station in connection with the shirtless protest at the AI Summit meet. According to police sources, Chib did not cooperate during questioning and tried to mislead the investigators. They said they have sufficient evidence against him.

Judicial Magistrate Ravi allowed four days of police custody to question Chib, after the Investigating Officer (IO) sought seven days of custodial interrogation. “The application of the IO is partly allowed. The accused is remanded to police custody for four days commencing from today till February 28 (inclusive). On expiry of the said period, the IO shall produce the accused before the concerned court or the concerned duty magistrate, along with a detailed remand report,” the court said.

It underlined that during the custody, the IO had to abide by all constitutional and statutory safeguards, including those relating to medical examination, maintenance of the case diary and production of the accused before the court within the stipulated time.

The court also “expressly” recorded Chib’s right to meet his counsel during interrogation according to Section 38 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), but clarified that such a meeting could not hamper the legitimate needs of investigation.

The provision says, “When any person is arrested and interrogated by the police, he shall be entitled to meet an advocate of his choice during interrogation, though not throughout interrogation.”

The magistrate said that the advocate’s presence would be permitted at such intervals as reasonably fixed by the IO, but not throughout the interrogation and not in a manner that directly interfered with questioning.

Besides, the presence and permission had to remain consistent with the statutory scheme and judicial pronouncements, he said. “Nothing stated in this order shall be construed as an expression on the merits of the case or as a final determination of the applicability of any specific penal provision, including Section 197(1)(d) BNS (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) which shall be considered at the appropriate stage based on evidence collected,” the court said.

According to the BNS provision, “Whoever, by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representations or through electronic communication or otherwise, makes or publishes false or misleading information jeopardising the sovereignty, unity and integrity or security of India, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.”

The arrest memo alleged that Chib was the “main conspirator and mastermind of the incident of unlawful assembly” during the summit, where “anti-national slogans were raised” by the co-accused, who also tried to “incite a riot-like situation”.

“You (Chib), in conspiracy with Shree Krishna Hari, Kundan Yadav, Narsimha Yadav, Ajay Kumar Yadav, etc, obstructed and assaulted the police officials on their duty. Further, during interrogation, you have not cooperated and also not disclosed the name of the co-accused persons who have fled from the spot.”

“Nor have you disclosed the source of printing of T-shirts which other co-accused conspirators have used during the protest. The investigation of the case is yet pending, and for the proper investigation of the case, you are being arrested in the case,” said the memo.

Youth Congress has defended the protest, saying it was peaceful and aimed at drawing attention to a “compromised” prime minister. “Our message was clear, our slogan was clear, that the prime minister is compromised. In the past few days, in various places in the country, we organised protests, but there was a lathi-charge on our workers,” said Youth Congress’s national general secretary Sheh Narayan Ojha.