Allahabad High Court grants bail to man who allegedly threatened to kill PM Narendra Modi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath

The Allahabad High Court recently granted bail to a man who allegedly threatened to assassinate Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath. (Salman @ Arman Chaudhary v. State of UP).Single judge Justice Pankaj Bhatia granted bail to Salman considering the fact that the offences against him were bailable and he was languishing in jail since August 31, 2021."Considering the fact that prima-facie from the FIR in question, an offence can be said to be made out against the applicant under Sections 506 & 507 IPC, both of them being bailable in nature, coupled with the fact that the applicant is in jail since 31.08.2021 and there is nothing on record to demonstrate that the applicant, if enlarged on bail, would adversely affect the trial, the applicant is entitled to be enlarged on bail. In view thereof, the application is allowed," the Court said..As per the First Information Report (FIR), a call was received on UP Police emergency services No.112 from applicant's mobile phone threatening to kill the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister in view of their public statements. The caller allegedly stated that he would assassinate them and go to jail. An investigation was carried out and the mobile phone from which the call was received was recovered from the applicant.The applicant was charged under Sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) and section 505(1)(b) [statements conducing to public mischief) of Indian Penal Code and Section 66 of Information Technology Act..The counsel for applicant submitted that though the offences under Sections 506 and 507 can be made out as per FIR, the same are triable by Magistrate and is a bailable offence. Further it was submitted that though Section 505 is a bailable offence, the same is not made out in the instant case going by the allegations contained in FIR. .On the other side, Additional Government Advocate (AG)vehemently argued that the nature of the offence committed by the applicant threaten the fabric of the society. "He threatened the elected representative of the country and should be heavily punished," the AGA submitted. But the Court said that the AGA could not deny that the offences under Sections 506 and 507 are bailable offences.In view of the same, the Court granted bail to the accused, stating that there was nothing on record to demonstrate that if enlarged on bail, he would adversely affect the trial.[Read order]