The Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to politician Shrikant Tyagi, who was held last month after a video of him abusing and assaulting a woman in Noida went viral on social media, reported The Indian Express.

Tyagi, who claims to be a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was sent to judicial custody on August 9 after Noida police arrested him in Meerut.

The police had booked him under Section 354 (assault or use of criminal force to outrage modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code. After his arrest, he was also charged under Section 420 (cheating) as police found that he possessed a car sticker that read “vidhayak” – MLA in Hindi.

The police also filed a separate first information report against Tyagi under the Gangster Act after a group of his supporters barged into the housing society, seeking the woman complainant’s arrest, reported The Indian Express.

On August 11, a local court in Noida had denied bail to Tyagi after which he moved the High Court.

The case

Earlier in August, a few videos on social media showed Tyagi verbally abusing a woman after she tried to stop him from planting trees in the society’s common area, citing violation of rules. The video showed Tyagi pushing the woman and shouting at her husband as well.

Tyagi identifies himself as a national executive member of the BJP’s Kisan Morcha and national co-ordinator of the party’s Yuva Kisan Samiti. However, the party has denied having any links with him.

In 2019, residents of the Grand Omaxe society in the city’s Sector 93 had filed a complaint with the Noida authority and Gautam Buddh Nagar Police against Tyagi for allegedly encroaching onto the green belt in the common area of the complex.

After the Noida Police booked him on August 5, illegal structures outside Tyagi’s home were demolished three days later.