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On June 9 2021, the Allahabad High Court granted a bail application filed by a journalist who was arrested under the charges of riot and unlawful assembly, he was arrested for a tweet he made concerning election mismanagement by the authorities in the State of Uttar Pradesh. The bail application was placed before a single-judge bench of Justice Rajeev Singh, the counsel for applicants submitted that the applicants were not guilty of anything and falsely framed in this case. He also submitted that one of the applicants was a reporter of District level Hindi newspaper and was covering news relating to the Gram Panchayat election at the village Utarsh.
He further submitted that an applicant reported the news about irregularity on the polling booth by the authorities and influential people through the Twitter handle. Due to his coverage, the authorities got annoyed and started beating every voter when they objected. an FIR was registered against the villagers and the applicants because they were covering the news concerning the election mismanagement by the authorities, the counsel for applicants stated that they were willing to co-operate with the police in the investigation, therefore, they were entitled to receive anticipatory bail.
The counsel for the state opposed the prayer sought by the applicants and stated that as per the FIR on April 19, the villagers including the applicants attempted to destroy the ballot box and they also fired bullets, thus, bail should not be granted.
The High Court ruled that
"Keeping in view the reasons, as stated above as also the facts and circumstances of the case, it is evident that mismanagement of the authorities was flash on Twitter by the applicant No.1 who is the journalist and another applicant is related to him, therefore, the applicants are entitled to interim bail."
The High Court proceeded with granting interim bail to the applicants. On the personal bond of Rs.50,000 and both, the applicants were released under certain conditions:
[1] The applicants should appear for the interrogation whenever needed.
[2] The applicants should not leave the city without a prior court's permit.
[3] The applicants should not make any inducement, threat or promise to anyone familiar with the facts of this case to discourage those from disclosing such facts to the court or police.
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