Court Sends Youth Congress Workers To Police Remand For Shirtless Protest At AI Summit

New Delhi: The court has taken a tough stand against four Youth Congress workers who staged a shirtless protest at the India Impact AI Summit at Bharat Mandapam. The Patiala court has remanded them in police custody for five days. Their bail applications have been rejected. The arrested Youth Congress workers were produced before Judicial Magistrate Ravi, who reserved his decision after the arguments concluded.

The arrested protesters include Krishna Hari, National Secretary of the Youth Congress from Bihar, Kundan Yadav, State Secretary of the Youth Congress from Bihar, Ajay Kumar, State President of the Youth Congress from Uttar Pradesh, and Narasimha Yadav from Telangana.

What is the Delhi Police's argument?

The Delhi Police requested five days' custody of the arrested protesters, arguing that they raised anti-national slogans and wore T-shirts with objectionable images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The accused's lawyer argued that they were affiliated with a political party and exercised their democratic right to hold a peaceful protest at Bharat Mandapam. The lawyer stated that there is no footage proving that they attacked police officers, nor is there any evidence that any anti-national statement was made.

“This is a larger conspiracy that has taken inspiration from the Gen Z protests in Nepal. The accused need to be confronted with each other as well as with digital evidence. This is a very important investigation,” the police told the court while seeking custody of the arrested Youth Congress members.

What did the BJP say?

Earlier, the BJP launched another attack on the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, calling the opposition party's youth wing's protest at the India AI Impact Summit here "treason." It also alleged that "Lashkar-e-Rahul's soldiers" tried to tarnish the country's image. On Friday, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers protested in an exhibition hall at Bharat Mandapam, the venue of the AI ​​summit, shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after which they were removed by security personnel.

Taking aim at the Congress party over the protests, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said that what the Congress party has done is not just politics. It cannot be dismissed as merely negative politics; it amounts to treason. Speaking to reporters here, Trivedi alleged that until now, Rahul Gandhi used to go abroad and make derogatory, offensive, and condemnable statements about India. Now, the flag-bearers and soldiers of Lashkar-e-Rahul are trying to tarnish India's image in front of foreign guests. He alleged that the protest at the AI ​​conference venue was a shameful display of Congress's baseness.