Thread by @LawBeatInd

BREAKING: The District and Sessions Court, Haridwar has granted bail to Yati Narsinghanand, the head priest of Dasna Devi temple (Uttar Pradesh) in 'Haridwar Dharam Sansad' alleged hate speech case.
@ISalilTiwari reports
lawbeat.in/top-stories/br…

Note: Some News portals have incorrectly reported that Narsinghanand has been granted bail in a case registered u/s 295,509,323,504, and 153A of the Indian Penal Code.

In the instant case, he was arrested only for offences u/s 153A and 295A.

Important observations by the court:
1. The court has noted that the prosecution itself has accepted that the informant in the instant matter, Gulbahar Khan, was not present at the Dharm Sansad. He filed a case only on the basis of a video he saw on Facebook.

2. In the FIR, Yati Narsinghanand was not named.
3. All the offences, which are alleged against Narsinghanand are punishable with a maximum of 3 years of imprisonment and fine or both.

Therefore, court held,
"In the above penal provisions, there is no solid ground before the court at this stage to deny bail to the accused as the case is punishable with maximum imprisonment of up to three years."
#Haridwar

Court added, "As far as the criminal history of the accused is concerned and the list of criminal cases filed before the Court by the investigator, the accused has not been convicted so far in any case and all the cases are at the stage of the investigation, trial, charge."

"In such a situation...instead of canceling...keeping the strict restrictions, the acceptance of the bail application appears to be justified in the interest of justice at this stage." court concluded.