The Telangana high court on Monday granted bail to 16 out of 56 army job aspirants, who were arrested in connection with the violent agitation in Secunderabad railway station on June 17 in protest against the central government’s new army recruitment scheme “Agnipath”
The bail petition was filed by Congress Telangana unit president A Revanth Reddy on behalf of the arrested youth.
After hearing the arguments on behalf of the petitions and prosecution, the high court granted conditional bail to 16 accused. The court ordered that each of them submit two sureties, beside personal bonds for ₹20,000 each.
In all, 56 persons were arrested in connection with the large-scale violence at Secunderabad railway station on June 17. The protestors set fire to a few railway coaches and damaged several bogies and other railway properties.
As the situation was going out of control, police opened fire on the mob preventing them from setting fire to the loco engines. It resulted in the death of one person and injuries to 12 others.
Based on a complaint from Secunderabad railway station superintendent Raja Narasu, the Secunderabad railway police have registered a case against the unknown number of persons under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 324 (causing injuries by dangerous weapons or means), 307 (attempt to murder), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance), 427 (damage to public property), 448 (trespassing), 336 (rash act endangering human life), 332 (injuring public servants) and 341 (wrongful restraining), besides various sections of Prevention of Destruction of Public Properties Act.
According to the complaint, about 300 agitators entered the railway station initially from gate no 3 at 9 am in the garb of general passengers and started raising slogans opposing Agnipath scheme.
“Suddenly, the agitators started coming in groups of 200-300 and the number increased to 2,000. Some of the agitators, armed with sticks and rods and raising slogans, started damaging the railway station and trains. The police present for bandobust tried to stop them but they started pelting stones by taking the stones from the railway tracks. The unruly mob spread to all the platforms and damaged several trains, set fire to a few coaches,” the complaint said.