Agra (UP), Oct 3 A court here on Saturday granted bail to six Congress workers arrested for allegedly defacing the outer wall and gate of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's residence here during a protest last week and has expressed displeasure at the police's handling of the case, their advocate said.
Besides other sections, police had invoked Section 109(2) (attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which has now been dropped as the police could not support the action in its submissions before the court, according to Santosh Dixit, who represented the accused.
During the last hearing, the court had directed the police to "conduct a necessary investigation regarding Section 109(1) of the BNS and clearly specify the particular facts, injuries, medical evidence, eyewitness testimony, or other available evidence upon which this section has been invoked".
"The Investigating Officer must complete the investigation in all respects by October 3, 2026; if, upon completion, it is found that the offence under Section 109(1) of the BNS is not made out against the accused, the said section should be dropped, and this fact must be clearly recorded in the case diary," the court had said.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Sharib Ali on Saturday granted bail to all six accused, who were lodged in Agra district jail, after the police could not make out a case under Section 109(1), Dixit said.
The court also expressed displeasure over the police's handling of the case, he said.
The six accused -- Mukesh Dhangar, Anil Yadav, Rajesh Kumar, Manoj Gaur, Rajesh Gautam and Pankaj Chaudhary -- furnished surety bonds of Rs 20,000 each following the court's order, Dixit said.
Congress Agra city president Amit Singh welcomed the court's decision, saying the party's fight was to "save democracy and the Constitution".
"The serious section imposed by the police has been removed by the court. This is a victory for democracy," Singh said, adding that the Congress would continue its agitation until Kumar resigns as Chief Election Commissioner.
The case relates to an incident on September 28, when some Congress workers allegedly wrote slogans with black paint on the gate and wall outside Kumar's residence in the Vijay Nagar area during a protest.
Police had registered a case at Hariparvat police station on a complaint by a sub-inspector against eight named persons and 15-20 unidentified Congress workers.
The accused were initially booked under several provisions of the BNS, including Section 109 relating to attempt to murder, Section 121 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter a public servant from performing his duty), Section 126 (wrongful restraint), Section 132 ( assault or criminal force against a public servant), and provisions relating to rioting, house-trespass, criminal intimidation and intentional insult.
The six accused were arrested on September 29 and subsequently sent to jail.
The incident was part of the Congress' nationwide agitation against Kumar over the "vote chori" charge.
