The Haryana and Punjab high court has awarded regular bail to YouTuber Balwant Singh, also commonly known as Bobby Kataria, in a human trafficking case being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The order struck down a previous ruling by Special NIA Court in Panchkula which had denied his plea of bail on July 20, 2024.
Kataria had been an under trial in the judicial custody over one year and eight months. In objection to the decision of the lower court, his defense team claimed that the trial was taking too much time and that there was no valid reason why he should spend too long in prison yet proceedings would not end.
The High Court pointed out that 73 prosecution witnesses mentioned in the case had only been investigated at 23. Noticing that the trial was bound to take long to be over, the bench said that they could not extend the detention on the conditions. The order said that only 23 out of 73 prosecution witnesses were examined and the trial was most likely to be protracted, we, then, consider it proper to grant the appeal.
The court also put into consideration the fact that no other criminal cases were in process against Bobby Kataria when the hearing was being conducted. On these grounds, it allowed him to have regular bail, under court conditions.
Kataria, who gained his fame due to the presence in social media and online video, has been under the investigation regarding the alleged human trafficking activity. As the trial goes on, the NIA is still investigating.
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