Delhi Court To Pass Order On Bail Of Parliament Security Breach Accused Tomorrow

The Delhi High Court would on July 2 decide the bail pleas of two accused persons in the December 2023 Parliament security breach case.

A bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar had on May 21 reserved the order on the bail pleas of accused Neelam Azad and Mahesh Kumawat.

The accused challenged a trial court's order rejecting their bail plea.

In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack, accused Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D allegedly jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and sloganeered before they were overpowered by some MPs.

Around the same time, two other accused -- Amol Shinde and Azad -- allegedly sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting "tanashahi nahi chalegi (dictatorship won't work)" outside the Parliament premises.

Azad's counsel said she should be granted bail as the provisions of UAPA couldn't be attracted in the case.

Her counsel claimed she was not carrying any explosives in Parliament and only stood outside.

Opposing the bail plea, the police alleged the accused intended to bring back "haunted memories" of the 2001 Parliament attack.

The bail pleas were opposed by the prosecution which said during the preliminary inquiry, it was revealed that accused Azad and Shinde were associates of Sharma and Manoranjan D and they together carried out the terror act.

The had informed the high court that it had "duly supplied" the grounds of arrest to the accused in the case.

The submission came in response to the court's query whether grounds of arrest were supplied to the accused in the case.

The court had previously asked the accused the reason for choosing the specific date of December 13, which marked the infamous 2001 Parliament attack aside from the place for protest being aware of designated spots for protests in the capital.

It also asked the police to explain whether carrying or using a smoke canister, inside and outside Parliament attracted UAPA and if it fell under the definition of terrorist activities.

The trial court rejected Azad's bail plea, saying there was sufficient evidence to believe that allegations against her were "prima facie" true.

All the accused persons -- Azad, Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat -- already had the knowledge about the threat given by designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu for targeting Parliament on December 13, 2023, it added.

While four accused were taken into custody from the spot, Jha and Kumawat were arrested later.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)