Delhi court grants bail to 9 Youth Congress members, says protest at AI summit not ‘organised crime’

Nine members of the Indian Youth Congress who were arrested in connection with a protest at the India AI Impact Summit on February 20 were granted bail by a Delhi court on Sunday, Bar and Bench reported.

Members of the Congress’ youth wing had staged the protest during the artificial intelligence summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and holding placards alleging that he was “compromised”.

The Delhi Police, which functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, registered a case against the protesters on charges of rioting and promoting enmity between groups. It alleged that the demonstration was an attempt to disrupt the high-profile event.

On Sunday, Judicial Magistrate First Class Ravi of the Patiala House Court said in his order granting bail that the protest amounted to “political dissent” and not “recidivist violence or organised crime”.

“The protest, at highest, constituted symbolic political critique during a public event,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.

The court noted that the demonstration involved participants wearing T-shirts with images of political leaders, chanting slogans that were not inflammatory or communal in nature.

“No evidence discloses property defacement, or delegate panic,” the legal news outlet quoted Ravi as saying, adding that the protesters left the venue in an orderly manner under...

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