Shirtless protest: Court reserves order on Delhi Police plea for custody of arrested IYC workers

A Delhi court on Saturday (February 21, 2026) reserved its order on police’s plea seeking five-day custody of the four Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers, who were arrested for protesting at the AI Impact Summit venue a day ago.

The arrested IYC workers were produced before Judicial Magistrate Ravi, who reserved the order after completion of arguments.

The arrested protesters were Krishna Hari, national secretary of Youth Congress from Bihar; Kundan Yadav, IYC state secretary, Bihar; Ajay Kumar, IYC state president, Uttar Pradesh; and Narasimha Yadav from Telangana.

Delhi Police sought five-day custody of the arrested protesters, arguing that they raised anti-national slogans and wore T-shirts with objectionable images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The counsel for the accused argued that they were associated with a political party, and had exercised their democratic right to peaceful protest at Bharat Mandapam.

He said there was no footage proving that they attacked police officers, nor any evidence that an anti-national speech was made.

The court is expected to pass its order shortly.