A Mumbai court has granted bail to Delhi-based lawyer Vibhor Anand who was arrested last month by Mumbai police on charges of spreading conspiracy theories on the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and making allegations against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The Mumbai court granted him bail after he said he would tender an apology online.
According to a report in Live Law, Vibhor reportedly told the court that he “got influenced by Republic TV and its anchor who stated that both Sushant Singh Rajput and Disha Salian had been murdered.” The Additional Sessions Judge DE Kothalikar granted him bail after Vibhor submitted to the court that he repents what he did and that he will tender an apology online. The court granted him bail against a personal bond of Rs 50,000.
Vibhor Anand had been arrested on October 15 by Mumbai police’s cyber crime cell. He had been booked under Sections 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 505(2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), 500 (Defamation), 504 ( Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code as well as Section 67 of IT Act (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form).
According to Mumbai Mirror, during his bail hearing, Vibhor’s lawyer Ashok Saraogi told the court that Anand had been watching TV channels, in particular Republic TV and R Bharat, to keep himself up-to-date on the Sushant case and that he was “made to believe” that the statements on news channels were true. He stated that he had only taken the names of various persons that were also broadcast on the said channels.
Vibhor Anand had made most of his claims on his Twitter account, which has since been suspended. In his bail plea, he also added that he did not realise that his tweets could create controversy and that when they did, he had withdrawn them.
The Mumbai court granted him bail, on the condition that he issue an apology within seven days of the order being passed.