Madhya Pradesh High Court grants bail to ABVP students who stole judge's car to take dying man to hospital

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday granted bail to two students who were booked for stealing a judge's car to transport a dying person to the hospital [Himanshu Shroti & Anr v. State]. .A Bench of Justice Sunita Yadav and Justice Amar Nath Kesharwani said in its order,"Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, but without expressing any opinion on merits of the case, this application is allowed and it is directed that the applicants be released on bail on furnishing personal bond in the sum of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand Only) each with two local solvent sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial Court.".The students, who were activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), were booked under the Madhya Pradesh Dakaiti Aur Vyapharan Prabhavit Kshetra Adhiniyam Act on December 11.They were arrested based on a complaint by a constable at Gwalior Railway Station who alleged that around 3:45 AM on December 11, some unidentified individuals disembarked from a train and called an ambulance for the patient - the Vice-Chancellor of a private university in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.Before the ambulance could arrive, the accused forcefully took the key from the driver of a government vehicle parked at the railway station and drove the patient to the hospital. The patient reportedly succumbed to cardiac failure..Counsel for the accused contended that since the police has already recovered the vehicle, further custodial interrogation was not required, as they have no criminal antecedents.Counsel representing the State did not object to the grant of bail..Advocates Bhanupratap Singh Chauhan, BK Sharma, Gaurav Mishra and Abhishek Mishra represented the two accused.Additional Advocate General Ankur Mody appeared for the State..A special judge had earlier denied them bail, noting that the argument that they were trying to help a sick person was not justified..Notably, former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan intervened, urging the Madhya Pradesh High Court Chief Justice to drop the case against the two individuals on humanitarian grounds, given the circumstances surrounding the incident..[Read Order]