Garhwal Post Bureau
Nainital, 6 Oct: The Uttarakhand High Court has granted interim relief to independent MLA from Yamunotri, Sanjay Dobhal, his brother Vinod Dobhal, Chairman of Barkot Municipal Council, and approximately 150 of their supporters, by staying their arrest in connection with a protest held at Barkot.
The Dobhal brothers had filed a petition before the court, seeking quashing of the FIR registered against them and a stay on arrest. After hearing the matter, a single bench of Justice Alok Kumar Verma directed the petitioners to cooperate with the ongoing investigation, in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar case.
It may be recalled that this case pertains to a protest that was led by Sanjay Dobhal following the circulation of a video on social media allegedly showing police personnel assaulting a youth. In response, MLA Sanjay Dobhal, Municipal Council Chairman Vinod Dobhal, Naugaon Block Pramukh’s husband Ajveen Panwar, Kapil Rawat, and their supporters staged a blockade on the National Highway at Barkot. The demonstration led to the highway being shut for several hours, causing significant inconvenience to commuters and the general public.
As a result, on 6 September, the police had registered a case against Sanjay Dobhal, Vinod Dobhal, Ajveen Panwar, Kapil Dev Rawat, and 22 other named individuals, along with around 150 unidentified persons. The FIR invoked multiple sections related to disruption of public order and obstruction of traffic. The authorities and the police maintain that the protest had violated legal provisions and disturbed public peace.
The list of those booked includes Yamunotri MLA Sanjay Dobhal, Barkot Municipal Council Chairman Vinod Dobhal, Ajveen Panwar, Vasudev Dimri, Kapil Rawat, Ravindra Rawat, Sachin Rana, Chetan Singh Rawat, Anand Singh Rawat, Brijmohan Singh Rana, Bhagat Ram Bahuguna, Sumit Rawat, Jagmohan Singh, Praveen Chauhan, Govind Singh Rawat, Councillor Sanjeev Rana, Mukesh, Vikas Jayada, Sulabh Dimri, Krishnapal Singh, Ashish, Suresh Aswal, Pradeep Jayada, Saurabh Rawat, Ramit Rawat, and Yashwant Rawat.
Through their petition filed with the High Court, the MLA and his supporters had contended that the protest was triggered by the alleged late-night detention of one of their supporters by the police, who was reportedly picked up from his residence at 11:30 p.m. They claim the agitation was a spontaneous reaction to this incident. Despite the FIR, the High Court has now stayed the arrests, offering temporary reprieve to the accused.
It may be recalled that Sanjay Dobhal had earlier accused the state government of neglecting the developmental needs of his constituency. In protest, he had announced a march to gherao the Chief Minister’s residence on 22 September. However, the police intercepted and stopped him at Mussoorie, preventing the planned demonstration from reaching its destination.
