BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to Mohammed Nalapad Haris, son of Shanti Nagar MLA N.A. Haris. He was behind bars at Parappana Agrahara for more than 100 days, for allegedly assaulting a 24-year-old man, Vidwat, over a trivial issue at a café in UB City on February 17. While granting bail the court has imposed certain conditions, which include furnishing a bond of Rs 2 lakh with two sureties for the like sum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional court.
Nalapad has also been directed to appear before the court as and when required. He shall not tamper with evidence and not threaten, induce or allure the prosecution witnesses in whatsoever manner. “Petitioner (Nalapad) shall not get himself involved in similar offences. Shall not leave the jurisdiction of the trial court (Bengaluru) without prior permission of the trial court,” HC ordered while making it clear that the observations made in its order are confined to the petition filed seeking bail and it will not in any way influence the trial judge conducting the trial.
He had approached HC for the second time following his bail plea being rejected by the lower courts on two occasions. This time the petitioner was represented by senior advocate B.V. Acharya, who argued that Nalapad was only accused of slapping Vidwat a few times and kicking him once. Also, it was argued that only ice buckets and bottles were used during the sudden fight, which cannot be categorised as dangerous weapons. Moreover, it was not a pre-planned act, Acharya had argued.
The Special Public Prosecutor, M.S. Shyamsunder, had maintained his line of argument and stressed on earlier occasions when Nalapad had sought for bail. The SPP highlighted the ‘brutality’ in the entire incident. That apart, series of assault against the victim was another ground for the prosecution against bail being granted. The accused had sought for bail as the police has filed the chargesheet, and on the ground that as per Supreme Court ruling if the investigation is completed, the accused is liable to get bail, exceptions in cases of murder or rape.
Received by friends at Jail
When Mohammed Nalapad Haris was released from Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, he was received by three friends. No one from his family was present. Nalapad reached his Shanthinagar house around 9 pm and entered through the back gate to avoid the media.
