For a painter, a meat scrap seller, a tailor and a garment shop worker, it’s still a long road out of prison. The men – Naseem Ahmad, Mehtab, Imran and Arshad — are among those who were granted bail in last year’s Kanpur violence case, in which 61 people were named accused, reported The Indian Express.
While many of the accused are out on bail, at least four of them continue to be behind bars despite being granted bail over six months ago as they are too poor to pay the surety amount demanded by the court.
Violence had erupted on June 3 in Kanpur during a protest against the derogatory remarks made by now suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma against Prophet Mohammad on a private TV news channel.
Three cases of rioting were registered at Beconganj police station under at least 12 Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections, including those related to attempt to murder, rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon, provocation with intent to cause riot, assault, criminal intimidation, voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty, and others.
A complaint filed by Sub-Inspector Arif Raza, alleged that a crowd of 350 indulged in rioting and arson, resulting in injuries to people passing through the area after Friday prayers on June 3 last year.
Another complaint registered by police inspector Nawab Ahmad, stated that a crowd of 500 people gathered at Nai Sadak area on June 3 and “indulged in rioting, arson and fired with illegal arms with an intention to kill”. The complaint named 36 people as accused.
The third complaint was lodged by a local resident, Mukesh, who claimed that thousands of people attacked a neighbourhood with stones, iron rods and bombs while raising slogans of “Allahu Akbar”.The case mentioned “thousands of unidentified people” as accused.
A senior police officer said 61 people were arrested in the three cases, while five people accused in the cases are absconding.
Kanpur DCP (Central) Pramod Kumar, who was part of the Special Investigative team (SIT) probing the three cases, said, “The chargesheet in the three cases have been filed. All the accused persons were arrested based on evidence.”
While the Allahabad High Court granted bail to several of those accused, including the four men, on different dates, the families of Naseem, Mehtab, Imran and Arshad could not submit sureties in the district court to secure their release. The Kanpur district court had set two sureties worth Rs 1 lakh in each of the three cases, amounting to Rs 6 lakh.
The four men who continue to languish in jail are the only bread winners in the family. After paying hefty legal fees, the families were unable to produce the bail surety required to secure their release from jail.
Naseem, the painter, was granted bail six months ago, on November 2, but remains in jail. The family has already spent Rs 1.5 lakh applying for bail in the Allahabad High Court, after the plea was rejected by a local court. Now, the family has run out of resources to raise the bail bond, reported The Indian Express.
Mehtab’s wife had sold their two-room pucca house in the slum for Rs 4 lakh to pay the legal fees required for her husband’s bail. Mehtab, the meat scrap seller, had secured bail in October last year.
Imran worked as a tailor – just like his father Nisar who died a month before the June 3 violence. His mother has borrowed Rs 40,000 so far on legal fees, she is neck deep in debt and cannot arrange for the money required to free her son.
Arshad worked as a daily wager at a garment shop in Kanpur’s Readymade Market. Despite the Allahabad High Court granting him bail in February 2023, he is languishing in jail as his family cannot find people who can give sureties worth Rs 6 lakh.
Despite repeated orders of the Supreme Court to release prisoners who are under trial and unable to furnish bail bonds due to poverty, scores of such prisoners like Naseem Ahmad, Mehtab, Imran and Arshad are languishing in jails.
Earlier in February, the Supreme Court has said that trial courts should relax bail conditions if an undertrial prisoner is unable to furnish the stipulated bail bonds for over a month.