Kathiramangalam protesters get conditional bail

Eight of the arrested protesters, in their bail petition, had stated that the protests which began peacefully on June 30 turned violent only after police began a lathi-charge. 

Three policemen suffered injuries and following that nine people were arrested on charges of attacking the policemen. The petitioners had prayed that the charges framed against them were false and pleaded the court to grant bail. 

In the earlier arguments, the Public Prosecutor had said that the arrested protesters were spreading false information about ONGC and instigating people against the organisation. Also, policemen had suffered injuries and one of them was still undergoing treatment in hospital. 

Therefore, the PP argued that bail should not be granted. Counsel of the petitioners argued that it was their right to protest and they had also obtained prior permission. They pleaded that the policemen were responsible for the violence as they were the first to cane the protesters. 

So, the court should grant bail, they said.   Following the arguments, the Court without mentioning the date, had reserved the final order in the case. On Wednesday, Judges KK Sasidharan and GR Swaminathan had granted conditional bail to all the petitioners. 

The bail condition stipulated that Jayaraman had to appear daily at Madurai District Court and the remaining seven had to appear at Tiruchirappalli District Court.