Two days after a Ranchi court passed a strange order of directing a young girl to donate five copies of the Quran to educational institutions as one of the conditions for her bail, it reversed the order following a public outcry.
On Wednesday, the court modified its order made on Monday to grant Richa Bharti bail. The 20 year old who was released on Monday was charged with posting content allegedly targeting Muslims on WhatsApp and Facebook on July 12. Magistrate Manish Singh on Monday granted her bail on the condition that she donates five copies of the Quran to government schools and colleges. She expressed her unhappiness over the condition while several people took to social media to criticise Singh.
Singh modified the order after the investigating officer (IO) of the case urged the court to do away with the condition as there were difficulties in its implementation.
“Having gone through the [IO]’s petition…this court modifies its earlier order by dropping the additional condition of distribution of copies of holy Quran by the petitioner. Accordingly, the order dated 15/7/2019 is modified up to this extent. The remaining order shall remain the same,” Singh said in his order.
The Ranchi district bar association had announced a 48-hour boycott of Singh’s court in protest against the condition. It has convened a meeting on Thursday to decide the future course of action.
The police officers maintained that they acted as per the law and that had nothing personal against her.
–India Legal Bureau