MUMBAI: A sessions court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a 22-yearold student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) booked for sedition. Urvashi Chudawala was booked for raising slogans in support of JNU student Sharjeel Imam, arrested for sedition, at the LGBTQ Pride March at Azad Maidan onSaturday.
Rejecting the plea, judge Prashant P Rajvaidya said: “Even though this court is not dealing with the matters of crime allegedly committed by Sharjeel Imam, ultimately the intent of the statement uttered by the applicant (Chudawala) in supporting Sharjeel Imam, in my opin ion, prima facie, attracts the ingredients of Section 124A (sedition) of Indian Penal Code which attracts life imprisonment. Hence, the offence is serious in nature.”
Opposing the student’s plea, chief public prosecutor Jaisingh Desai said Sharjeel’s statements were against the country, he is an enemy of the country and Urvashi had supported such a person.
The slogan raised by the accused showed that the student wanted to get together and fulfil Sharjeel’s dreams as he is in custody. He added that before registering the FIR, cops had repeatedly called the student but she didn’t cooperate. Defence advocate Vijay Hiremath submitted that for sedition, there should be a call for violence.
“Was the line, said only once for two seconds as shown by the video, do any harm? It does not create any hatred towards the government, any community or individuals. It was in the intensity of the continuous sloganeering for 10 minutes. One line was said, and it was only against his arrest,” he said, adding that Chudawala was not connected to Imam. But the court said the material prima facie supported allegations that on her Facebook account, Chudawala had liked a photo of Sharjeel, where it was mentioned, ‘Release Sharjeel Unconditionally”.
Rejecting the plea, judge Prashant P Rajvaidya said: “Even though this court is not dealing with the matters of crime allegedly committed by Sharjeel Imam, ultimately the intent of the statement uttered by the applicant (Chudawala) in supporting Sharjeel Imam, in my opin ion, prima facie, attracts the ingredients of Section 124A (sedition) of Indian Penal Code which attracts life imprisonment. Hence, the offence is serious in nature.”
Opposing the student’s plea, chief public prosecutor Jaisingh Desai said Sharjeel’s statements were against the country, he is an enemy of the country and Urvashi had supported such a person.
The slogan raised by the accused showed that the student wanted to get together and fulfil Sharjeel’s dreams as he is in custody. He added that before registering the FIR, cops had repeatedly called the student but she didn’t cooperate. Defence advocate Vijay Hiremath submitted that for sedition, there should be a call for violence.
“Was the line, said only once for two seconds as shown by the video, do any harm? It does not create any hatred towards the government, any community or individuals. It was in the intensity of the continuous sloganeering for 10 minutes. One line was said, and it was only against his arrest,” he said, adding that Chudawala was not connected to Imam. But the court said the material prima facie supported allegations that on her Facebook account, Chudawala had liked a photo of Sharjeel, where it was mentioned, ‘Release Sharjeel Unconditionally”.
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