Mumbai: A day after a special MP/MLA trial court refused to cancel a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against BJP corporator Akash Purohit in a 2020 protest case and sent him to judicial custody for “causing delay” in the hearing citing traffic issue, Bombay high court on Thursday granted him bail.Purohit and others, who had assembled at BEST Bhavan to protest against electricity bill hike during the Covid-induced lockdown, had been booked by Colaba police under the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Epidemic Diseases Act for offences related to assaulting or using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of duty, unlawful assembly and rioting.On Wednesday, Purohit was taken into custody from the sessions court premises “just because he got 15 minutes late” in attending the trial, and an NBW was issued against him, his counsel Hrishikesh Mundargi contended before the HC single-judge bench of Justice Suman Chandak. Purohit used to regularly attend the trial court, said Mundargi, and the judge even declined his plea for cancellation of the NBW and cancelled his pre-arrest bail instead, his lawyer submitted, adding that his client had never misused his liberty so far in any manner.After hearing additional public prosecutor Amit Munde, for the state, and noting that Purohit undertakes to attend the trial court on each date and cooperate for an expeditious disposal, the HC directed his release on bail on a PR bond of Rs 50,000. The HC also directed Purohit to attend Colaba police station for two hours once every month till the trial ends.Akash Purohit, who is the son of late BJP leader Raj Purohit, was released from Arthur Road Jail on Friday.