Amulya Leona (19), arrested in February on sedition charges for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans at an anti-CAA protest site, has been granted default bail by the magistrate court after the police failed to file the chargesheet within the stipulated 90 day period.
The college student is likely to be released after being behind bars for over three months.
“The 90 days period for filing the charge-sheet lapsed on May 20. We had soon after moved the court seeking default bail. However, since the trial courts were closed due to the lock-down the matter was not taken up,” her counsel said.
On June 2, her counsel again preferred the application and an order was passed on June 10, the same day when Amulya’s regular bail application came to be rejected by the sessions court.
As regards the argument on behalf of the applicant that mere sloganeering by itself cannot be an offence, Additional Session Judge Vidyadhar Shirahatti, observed: “It is my opinion that there are no materials to show that Pakistan is or not an enemy country. But the slogans which are alleged to have been used by the petitioner will certainly affect the feelings of public, law order and public peace.”