Parliament security breach: Court to pass order on woman accused’s bail plea on Sept 11

PTI, Sep 9, 2024, 7:30 PM IST

New Delhii: A court here is likely to pass on September 11 its order on the bail application of Neelam Azad, the only woman arrested in the December 13 Parliament security breach case.

Additional Sessions Judge Hardeeep Kaur on Monday reserved the order on Azad’s bail plea after hearing arguments from the accused’s counsel as well as the public prosecutor.

The judge also extended the judicial custody of all the accused — Azad, Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat — till October 16.

During the arguments, the counsel appearing for Azad told the judge that she was not involved in breach of parliament security and that she was falsely implicated in the case.

The counsel claimed that the police have already filed a charge sheet and two supplementary charge sheets in the case and the court has already taken cognisance of them.

“It was Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma who jumped into the well of the Parliament and threw smoke canisters,” the counsel told the court.

He said that Azad was outside the Parliament where she opened similar smoke canisters and threw pamphlets “to highlight the problem of unemployed youth” and that she was trying to bring public attention via social media.

Azad claimed that the smoke canisters were not harmful.

“She was not part of the criminal conspiracy. The investigation is complete and it will take a long time for the court to decide the case,” Azad said in her application.

The prosecution opposed the bail application, calling the offence “grave”. It alleged that Azad was involved in disrupting the sovereignty and integrity of India.

“There are strong, cogent, convincing, clinching and credible material, evidence and other documents against the present accused which disentitles her to be released on bail. There are adequate, substantial and sufficient material, evidence and other documents against the present accused which shows her involvement in the offence attracting the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,” the prosecutor told the court.

It told the court that Azad was involved in the offence which was punishable up to life sentence or death penalty.

“The allegations against the accused are grave, serious and heinous in nature. The accused persons are involved in disrupting the sovereignty and integrity of India,” the prosecutor told the court.

The judge had on August 3 taken cognisance of the supplementary charge sheet filed by the police under the stringent UAPA in connection with the case.

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

Around the same time, two other accused — Amol Shinde and Azad — sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting “tanashahi nahi chalegi” outside Parliament premises.

These four were taken into custody from the spot, while Jha and Kumawat were arrested later.