Youth Congress protest at AI Summit transcended legitimate dissent, imperilled India's diplomatic image: Delhi court

A Delhi court has observed that the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers' shirtless protests at the AI Impact summit transcended the ambit of legitimate dissent and imperilled India's diplomatic image before foreign stakeholders.

Members of the IYC staged a shirtless protest inside the India AI Impact Summit held at Bharat Mandapam on February 20. Several activists entered the venue, some removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts with slogans like “PM is compromised” and criticisms of the India-US trade deal, before chanting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and government policies.

Police arrested four workers and accused them of breaching the security at the venue and raising "anti-national" slogans.

Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Ravi of the Patiala House Courts made the observation in an order passed on February 21 while remanding four IYC workers -- Krishna Hari, Kundan Yadav, Ajay Kumar and Narasimha Yadav -- to Delhi Police's custody for five days.

The court noted that the accused persons orchestrated a premeditated intrusion into the high-security precincts of Bharat Mandapam, "donned provocative T-shirts bearing offensive slogans such as 'India US Trade Deal Compromised', vociferously raised incendiary chants, obstructed public servants in the execution of their duties, and perpetrated physical assaults causing grievous injuries to police personnel".

"Such conduct palpably transcends the ambit of legitimate dissent, metamorphosing into a blatant assault on public order. It imperils not merely the event's sanctity but also the Republic's diplomatic image before foreign stakeholders, rendering it wholly unprotected by constitutional safeguards," the underscored.

It also rejected the bail petition filed by all four accused, noting that they come from different parts of the country and the possibility of their interfering with the evidence cannot be ruled out.