Bittu Bajrangi, arrested on Aug 15 for Nuh violence, gets bail

GURUGRAM: Cow vigilante Raj Kumar, known as Bittu Bajrangi, who was arrested two weeks ago in connection with the communal violence on July 31 in Nuh, was granted bail by a Nuh sessions court on Wednesday.

Bajrangi, who had released a provocative video a day before the jal abhishek yatra, was arrested for allegedly brandishing weapons during the rally when violence erupted on July 31, police said. The violence soon spiralled and spread to Sohna, Palwal and Gurugram, leaving six people dead and over 88 injured over two days.

Police said Bajrangi was also booked for obstructing the police from performing duty, assaulting them and fleeing after snatching weapons seized by the police from the spot.

He (45) was arrested on August 15 after a chase in Faridabad.

While granting bail on Wednesday, additional district and sessions judge Sandeep Kumar Duggal put in place certain riders — Bajrangi will not visit Nuh district without prior permission from the superintendent of police and will stay away from making public statements, particularly on social media.

The major grounds on which Bajrangi was granted bail included the delay of a fortnight in registering an FIR against him, improbable allegations of snatching seized weapons like swords from police, and lack of evidence to ascertain whether the weapons Bajrangi carried were meant to inflict injury on policemen or to members of a particular community, the court said.

“The allegations against the applicant-accused are that he along with his supporters had tried to snatch the sword and “trishul (trident)” which were carried by the applicant and his followers. It has nowhere been pointed out as to whether weapons were being used to cause violence on the spot or to inflict any injury either to the policemen or to any people of a particular community. No such allegations are there,” the court said.

It further stated that snatching such weapons from the policemen was “highly improbable”.

“In this case, the applicant is in custody for the past 14 days. Investigation qua the applicant has been concluded. Conclusion of trial shall take sufficient time. In these circumstances, no purpose would be served by keeping the applicant behind custody. Therefore, I deem it appropriate to grant the concession of regular bail to the applicant,” the judge said.

Advocate LN Parashar, who represented Bajrangi, told the court that Bajrangi was in Faridabad in connection with another case — of allegedly posting communally provocative speech on social media — when Nuh police alleged that he was in Nalhar carrying swords on July 31.

“Most importantly, the FIR was registered against him on August 15, a fortnight after the communal violence. This indicates that it was an afterthought of the Nuh police to book him. Nowhere was it alleged in the FIR that he had instigated others with the weapons,” Parashar said.

SK Parmar, the public prosecutor, while opposing bail, submitted that Bajrangi’s mobile phone location showed that he was present in Nalhar on July 31 and due to the critical law and order situation in the district, an FIR could not be registered against him promptly. “Bajrangi had given hate speeches besides obstructing policemen while snatching seized weapons,” he told the court.

There were four more cases against Bajrangi in Faridabad in which he has already obtained bail. He is expected to come out of jail by Thursday evening, his counsel said.