10 TMC netas get bail in case tied to protest outside ECI

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to 10 TMC members, including MPs Derek O'Brien, Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale, who were booked for protesting outside Election Commission of India in April last year, violating prohibitory orders.

The court of additional chief judicial magistrate Neha Mittal observed the chargesheet was filed without making any arrests, and granted bail to five sitting MPs on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each, while the others were given bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 with an additional surety of the same amount. The court scheduled the next hearing for May 21.

The other TMC members who were granted relief included Santanu Sen, Dola Sen, Nadimul Haque, Vivek Gupta, Arpita Ghosh, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Sudip Raha. Barring Gupta, who attended virtually, all others were physically present in court. The court on April 21 summoned the 10 accused persons. According to Delhi Police, on April 8 last year, TMC members gathered outside the main gate of ECI office and started protesting, without requisite permission, despite CrPC section 144 being in place.