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Fundamental right to protest circumscribed by thin line: order by Punjab and Haryana High Court in the bail plea of Nodeep Kaur
The Punjab & Haryana High Court said in its order while granting bail to Nodeep Kaur that it is for the trial court to determine whether or not the protests in which Nodeep Kaur allegedly was involved had crossed the line leading to vandalism and hooliganism. The Court acknowledged that allegations and counter-allegations remain claiming that the protests supposedly were of a violent nature, but those are elements that should be investigated by the trial court.
The bail plea before the Court involved one of the cases brought against Kaur after her arrest in the wake of protests against the non-payment of salaries to certain laborers. It is the contention of the police that the protests turned violent, the protesters assaulted the police and injured police officers, and tried to snatch weapons from the police officers. The police charged her in the FIR with offenses under section 148,149,332,353,189,384,379B and 307 of the Indian Penal code. The Police have also produced a video on a pen drive to prove that when they attempted to disperse the mob, the police were assaulted with Dundas(sticks).
It was pointed out on Kaur's behalf that two FIRs had been filed for the same incident and that the second FIR was simply an addition to the first FIR. For the first FIR, Kaur had earlier been given bail. It was also claimed that for invoking the offense under Section 307, IPC, no particular harm has been made to Kaur.
The Court, however, took the opinion that it was not necessary to address in-depth the merits of the allegations. It also noted that the fate of the case could turn on whether or not the protests were peaceful or not. However, the court stated that this is something that the trial court has to look into. with respect to this, the judge recalled the judgment of the Supreme Court in Anita Thakur and ors v Govt of J&K and ors, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the holding of peaceful protests is a right that can be attributed to fundamental rights, but it is also subject to certain restrictions.
The question of relying on IPC sections 307, 332, 353, and 379B would also be a debatable problem that should be considered during the proceedings, the court stated. Nodeep Kaur was thus granted bail, for which she had to furnish bonds to the satisfaction of the judicial magistrate concerned
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