Lucknow: In an unexpected turn of events, Lucknow”s Additional District Judge, Sanjay Shankar Pandey, on Friday said that he has reserved orders on the bail petition of Congress spokesperson Sadaf Jafar, retired IPS officer S.R. Darapuri and around eight more people.
Earlier in the day, the lawyers had informed the media that the protesters had been granted bail.
The ADJ has now reserved the order due to technical reasons and it will, in all likelihood, be delivered on Saturday.
“In all probability, bail would be granted,” said counsel Amir Naqvi who argued on behalf of Sadaf, Darapuri and two others.
On the other hand, the habeas corpus petition filed for senior advocate Mohammad Shoib would come up again for hearing before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.
The division bench of Justice Shabihul Hasnain and Justice Virendra Tyagi would further take up the case on Monday.
The 72-year old human rights lawyer was picked up by the police from his home in Aminabad on the night of the CAA protests on December 19.
The names of retired IPS Darapuri, Sadaf Jafar and Mohammad Shoib are among the accused in FIR no 0600 registered at Hazratganj police station on December 19 night.
Sadaf was arrested from the protest site at Parivartan Chowk on the evening of December 19 during the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Lucknow while she was streaming them live.
Last week during her Lucknow visit, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had met Sadaf”s children and Darapuri”s family to express her solidarity.
The Indian Penal Code sections under which these activists have been arrested include 307 (attempt to murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 147 (charges of rioting), 148 (charges of rioting with a deadly weapon) and 152 (assaulting a public servant).