New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (May 7) said the Parliament building is the pride of the country and nobody can play a prank in the building where serious work gets transited and laws for the country are made and those arrested for the 2023 security breach couldn’t equate themselves with martyrs like Bhagat Singh.
A bench comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, however, asked the Delhi Police to explain why the accused persons in the case were booked booked for an offence punishable under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Whether an offence under UAPA, having stricter bail considerations, made out, High Court asked
“Nobody can even play a prank or do something like… in the Parliament building which is of course the pride of the country. Nobody is saying anything about that. But the question is whether an offence under UAPA, having stricter bail considerations, made out? There can be other Acts under which you can proceed. No problem in that. The issue is whether offence under UAPA is made out,” the bench said while hearing bail pleas of two accused persons – Neelam Azad and Mahesh Kumawat.
Accused cannot equate themselves with martyrs like Bhagat Singh: High Court
“We are not for a minute saying that they (accused) have done a prank or a protest and this is the form of protest. No, this is not a form of protest and you are actually disrupting a place where serious work gets transited, where laws for the country are made. It is not a joke. It is not even a place where you can compare yourself to martyrs like Bhagat Singh who have done it. You (accused) cannot equate yourselves with them. Still the question is UAPA,” the bench added.
The bench asked the Delhi Police to explain whether whether carrying or using a non-lethal smoke canister inside and outside Parliament attracted UAPA and fell under the definition of terrorist activities.
“Otherwise their (accused persons) liberty should be not curtailed and you (police) can continue with the trial and they can be let out on bail. They are only on the application for bail,” the bench said, news agency PTI reported.
What did the Delhi Police submit?
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, who represented the Delhi Police, referred to the date of incident – December 13, which is also the date of 2002 Parliament attack, and argued before the court that it was a premeditated act, which certainly caused terror in the parliamentarians and they were shocked. He further said that since the incident happened inside Parliament, even a small act would be viewed with a magnitude of a different variety. He further said that the court must see the intention with which smoke canisters were used by the accused in Parliament.
The court asked the ASG to support his statement with a case law or any other material on the next date and posted the hearing on the bail pleas on May 19.
The High Court earlier remarked that smoke canister was freely available in the market and if it would attract UAPA, then everybody will come under this offence in every Holi and every Indian Premier League (IPL) match.
All the six accused in the case – Neelam Azad, Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Shinde, Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat – are facing charges under stringent UAPA and other provisions under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for breaching the Parliament security on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack case on December 13, 2023.
What happened on December 13, 2023?
Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D allegedly jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour on December 13, 2023 and they released yellow gas from canisters while shouting slogans before MPs present there overpowered them. Two other accused in the case – Amol Shinde and Neelam Azad – sprayed coloured gas from canisters around the same time while shouting “tanashahi nahi chalegi” outside the Parliament premises.
