New Delhi: After spending more than 100 days in jail, bangle seller Taslim Ali, who was assaulted by a mob in Indore, got bail from the Madhya Pradesh high court in an alleged sexual harassment case on Tuesday.

Ali was arrested on the charge of sexually harassing a 13-year-old girl in August this year, following the incident of thrashing. The mob had thrashed him while accusing him of using a fake name.

Justice Sujoy Paul of the Indore bench of the high court granted bail to Ali on Tuesday.

Ali's lawyer Ehtesham Hashmi told reporters, "The high court's bail order has once again proved that the constitution is supreme in the country. This is a victory of the constitution."

According to the Indian Express, Hashmi said Justice Paul observed that Ali was beaten by hooligans and then a cross FIR was registered after his complaint.

The case against Ali was politically motivated, advocate Hashmi alleged, adding that the attitude of the state government in the matter was a "little harsh", and the bail was delayed as the police did not present the case diary in the HC on time.

On August 31, the district court had rejected Ali's bail application, following which he moved the high court. However, the application was not heard in the high court on five scheduled dates of hearing. While on the first four occasions, the hearing was adjourned due to procedural reasons – such as the non-availability of the case diary, on the fifth occasion, the judge recused himself.

This was in stark contrast to the way the bail hearings of the people who were arrested for assaulting Ali were handled, the bangle seller’s counsel pointed out. All four of them were released on bail within 30 days.

Background

The assault on Ali had caused an uproar after a video showing some persons thrashing the 25-year-old, a bangle seller hailing from Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh, in the Govind Nagar area of Indore on August 22 went viral.

The assailants alleged that Ali was using a fake name while selling bangles to women in the locality.

On the next day of the incident, a first information report (FIR) was registered at the Banganga police station against Ali on the complaint of a 13-year-old girl.

As per the FIR, Ali went to the girl's house to sell bangles and identified himself as 'Golu' before allegedly touching her inappropriately.

Four people were also arrested in the case of assault. As per Ali's complaint, they asked for his name and started beating him on hearing his reply.

(With PTI inputs)

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