New Delhi: A court here on Tuesday issued a release order for Indian Youth Congress (IYC) national president Uday Bhanu Chib after the Delhi Police submitted a report verifying his bail surety in connection with a shirtless protest during the India AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam.
The Patiala House Court accepted the report filed by the Delhi Police regarding verification of Chib’s bail surety and directed that he be released from jail.
The development comes a day after the court had extended Chib’s judicial custody till Tuesday and directed the Delhi Police to verify his bail surety by 2 p.m. and place the report on record.
On Monday, the Delhi High Court stayed a sessions court order that had stalled the bail granted to Chib by a duty magistrate, thereby reviving the earlier order granting him relief.
A single-judge Bench of Justice Saurabh Banerjee, while issuing notice to the Delhi Police, observed that the sessions court had granted an ex parte interim stay without explaining why the matter qualified as a “rare and very exceptional case”.
“Though the stay has been granted based on the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court… it has been done merely by recording that it is a rare and very exceptional case without stating what constitutes such exceptional circumstances,” said Justice Banerjee.
“As such, there shall be a stay of the order dated 28.02.2026 passed by the learned ASJ. Resultantly, the order dated 28.02.2026 passed by the learned JMFC stands revived and the petitioner will be free to proceed accordingly in accordance with law,” the Delhi High Court ordered.
During the hearing, senior advocates Salman Khurshid and Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Chib, argued that the sessions court had wrongly interfered with a bail order passed by the duty magistrate and that such interlocutory orders were not amenable to revision.
Opposing the plea, Additional Solicitor General D.P. Singh submitted that the sessions court had only passed an interim stay during pending proceedings and contended that detailed reasons were not mandatory for such an order.
However, the Delhi High Court noted that the sessions court had stayed the magistrate’s order “till further orders” while describing the case as “rare and very exceptional” without elaborating on the circumstances warranting such a finding.
The development comes days after a dramatic midnight hearing before the Patiala House Court, where a duty magistrate granted bail to Chib, observing that personal liberty cannot be curtailed on mere conjectures.
However, within hours, a sessions court stayed the bail order on a plea moved by the Delhi Police, leading Chib to approach the High Court. Chib was arrested in connection with the shirtless protest staged on February 20 at Bharat Mandapam during the India AI Impact Summit and Expo 2026.
According to the grounds of arrest, he has been accused of being the “main conspirator” behind organising an unlawful assembly where slogans were raised, and an attempt was allegedly made to incite a riot-like situation.
Earlier, on February 24, the Patiala House Court had remanded him to four days of police custody after investigators sought seven days, claiming he was the mastermind of the protest.
Police also alleged that he, along with co-accused persons, obstructed and assaulted officials on duty and did not cooperate during interrogation.
The protest triggered a political row, with the BJP criticising the demonstration as an attempt to tarnish India’s global image, while the Congress defended it as a peaceful expression of democratic dissent by the youth.
(IANS)
