was A city court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of Neelam Azad, the only woman accused in the December 13 Parliament security breach case, saying there were sufficient evidence to believe that allegations against her were ‘prima facie’ true.
Accused had knowledge that Gurpatwant Singh Pannu had given a threat for targeting Parliament on December 13, court noted
Additional Sessions Judge Hardeeep Kaur, while denying bail to Neelam Azad, noted that all the accused persons in the case – Azad, Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat – already had knowledge that designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu had given a threat for targeting the Parliament on December 13 last year and despite the threat perception, they carried out the alleged offence in the Parliament on the same day.
Meetings were organised before committing the alleged terrorist act and Neelam Azad attended 3 such meetings: Court
The court further noted that the meetings were organised before committing the alleged terrorist act where the whole planning to commit the said act was discussed and a total of five such meetings were conducted from February, 2022 till day of the incident and Neelam Azad attended three such meetings.
“There are sufficient reasonable grounds for believing that the allegations made against applicant Neelam are prima facie true. Therefore, this court does not find it to be a fit case to grant regular bail to Neelam and the present bail application stands dismissed,” the court said while rejecting Neelam Azad’s bail plea, news agency PTI reported.
What did Neelam Azad submit?
Neelam Azad had submitted in her plea seeking bail that she was not part of the criminal conspiracy and that the investigation in the case is complete and it will take a long time for the court to decide the case and hence, she be granted bail in the case. He counsel had claimed that she was falsely implicated in the case and that she was not involved in the parliament security breach.
Delhi Police opposed Neelam Azad’s bail plea
The Delhi Police opposed the bail plea of Neelam Azad, submitting that she was involved in disrupting the sovereignty and integrity of India and the offence was grave. It had further said that there are strong, cogent, convincing, clinching and credible material, evidence and other documents against her which disentitles her to be released on bail.
All six accused are currently lodged in judicial custody
All the six accused in the parliament security breach case, who are currently lodged in judicial custody, are facing charges under stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code for breaching the security of parliament on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack case on December 13 last year.
The court had on August 3 taken cognisance of a supplementary charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police in the case under the UAPA.
