Prayagraj violence: HC grants bail to prime accused

One-liner: The Allahabad HC on Saturday granted bail to activist Javed Mohammed, who was the prime accused in the violence that broke out on June 10 last year in Prayagraj during a protest over alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed made by now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

Arrested: Prayagraj police arrested the 54-year-old businessman and activist Javed Mohammed after his name allegedly came up during questioning of other accused persons in the case.

What the bench said: While granting bail to Javed, a bench of Justice Sameer Jain observed that bail is a rule and jail is an exception and bail can't be rejected for punitive purposes. 

• Despite getting bail, Javed won’t be released from jail as his bail application is pending in two other cases

Mob committed violence: The court said: "It appears that due to the aggression and activeness of the applicant people of his community gathered in large numbers and thereafter the mob committed the violence."

Not instrumental: It said that the applicant (Javed) does not appear to be instrumental in such violence.

Police claim: Police had claimed that Javed had called for a bandh and urged people to join him through WhatsApp messages.

House demolished: A day after Javed’s arrest on June 11, the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) demolished his house after receiving a complaint about illegal construction on the property.