Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – The Allahabad High Court on Saturday granted bail to Muslim activist and Welfare Party of India leader Javed Mohammed, who was arrested on June 10 last year in Prayagraj for allegedly leading a protest against the derogatory remarks made by BJP leader Nupur Sharma about Prophet Mohammed .
However, Javed will remain in jail despite getting bail, as his bail application is still pending in two other cases.
Javed’s counsel told the court that out of 11 cases filed against Javed, one case is under the Electricity Act and two cases are for violation of Covid 19 guidelines and one case is the present one.
54-year-old Javed was arrested by Prayagraj Police and day after his arrest on June 11, the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) arbitrarily demolished his home claiming it to be an “illegal construction” on the property.
Several human right groups, international bodies and opposition parties nationally and globally condemned his arrest and the demolition of his house.
Bench of Justice Sameer Jain said, “bail is a rule and jail is an exception and bail cannot be rejected for punitive purposes”, while granting bail to Javed.
The court also said, “Applicant (Javed) does not appear to be instrumental for such violence, it appears that due to the aggression and activeness of the applicant people of his community gathered in large number and thereafter mob committed the violence.”
Senior Advocate S F A Naqvi, appearing for Javed established in the court that allegations against his client were ‘baseless’ as Indian Express reported.
Counsel of Javed Mohammed also submitted that there is no allegation against the applicant that either he was instigating people at spot or he was leading the mob and as admittedly the incident was a result of mob violence, therefore, applicant cannot be held liable for the act of mob, as per the bail order accessed by Clarion India.
Adv. Naqvi stated that Javed is a social worker and he has been raising voice against atrocities and due to his activeness he was falsely implicated by the police.
Javed’s family time and again has said that Javed Mohammed was targeted only because of his religious identity and active involvement in protests against injustices.
