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The Allahabad High court on Tuesday granted pre-arrest bail to one Mohammad Kaif, accused of trying to incite religious sentiments by raising anti-national slogans during the 2019 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Granting bail to Kaif, the Bench of Justice Raj Beer Singh noted, “In the instant case, considering the settled principle of law regarding anticipatory bail, submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, nature of accusation, role of applicant and all attending facts and circumstances of the case, without expressing any opinion on merit of the case, a case for anticipatory bail is made out.”

Amid the anti-CAA protests in 2019, a case was registered at Bhelupur Police Station of Varanasi against 16 named and some unknown persons alleging that despite proclamation under Section 144 Cr.P.C., these persons had tried to incite religious sentiments by raising anti-national slogans.

The accused were booked under Sections 147, 148, 149, 188, 153A, 298, 304, 332, 353 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.

In his anticipatory bail application, Kaif’s counsel had argued that despite the fact that Kaif was not named in the FIR, he had been falsely implicated in this case during investigation merely on the basis of suspicion. He had also alleged that even no specific role had been assigned to Kaif in the said crime.

Kaif’s counsel had also asserted that despite all these facts and the fact that Kaif is innocent, he had an apprehension that he may be arrested in for the alleged crimes, though there was no credible evidence against him. Importantly, Kaif’s counsel had pressed that co-accused Ashraf and Ashraf Ali Khan had already been granted anticipatory bail.

Therefore, taking note of Kaif’s all these submissions and Supreme Court’s guidelines in Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre v. State of Maharashtra, (2011), court decided to grant him the relief.

Court also added that even if Kaif gets arrested in the near future in this case, he shall be released furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 50,000/- with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Station House Officer of the police station.

Case Title: Mohammad Kaif v. State Of U.P And Another