Attack on Vidwath an 'accident', Haris Jr's lawyer tells court

The pub  assault involving the son of Congress legislator, N A Haris, was essentially a clash between two groups that broke out accidentally, senior counsel Tommy Sebastian argued before a court here on Friday, seeking bail for the suspect.  

The friends of the victim, Vidwath L, had beaten up one of the suspects, Arun Babu. This clearly shows that it was a group clash, the counsel submitted.

Haris's son, Mohammed Haris Nalapad, and seven of his associates are accused of brutally assaulting Vidwath at Farzi Café  in the upscale UB City on February 17. The suspects have been booked for attempted murder (IPC section 307) among other offences.  

The counsel contended  that the police invoked section 307 "only because the suspect is the son of  a sitting MLA".

This was done "under pressure from external forces and not on the basis of the facts of the case. The said section was inserted with mala fide intentions only to harass and humiliate the petitioners".

According to him,  the offences alleged against his client were  punishable neither with death nor life imprisonment, hence he must be given bail.

Client innocent

The bail petition stated that Nalapad  is "innocent and he has not committed the offence, much less the offence alleged against him, and as such the petitioner is entitled to be granted bail... the entire allegations in the complaint are false, baseless and politically motivated (sic)."  

The petition claimed that a criminal case was registered against Nalapad to "tarnish" his image in the eyes of the public.  The whole incident is "highly politicised", it added.

The petition said Nalapad had surrendered himself before the police and had no criminal record.  He was the general secretary of the Bengaluru district youth Congress and in an "iconic position".  A conspiracy was hatched to tarnish the image of Nalapad's  father and destroy the former's career as a budding politician, it said.  

Sebastian said Nalapad would not abscond or flee from justice and that he was ready to follow all the conditions set by the court.

But if he is denied bail, he  will suffer "great hardship, irreparable damage and
will be put to untold misery and suffering", the petition stated.  

City Civil and Sessions Court Judge, Parameshwara Prasanna B,  directed M S Shyamsunder, the special public prosecutor,  to file objections to the bail application and  adjourned the hearing until Monday.

Earlier, the court  took Shyamsundar on record as the SPP after the state government issued a notification on his appointment.  

An application that challenged  the SPP's appointment on the grounds that the  government had not followed the due procedure will be heard on  Saturday.