The Bombay High Court on Monday extended the interim protection from arrest for the 22-year-old Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) charged with sedition for another three weeks.
The student, Urvashi Chudawala, had allegedly raised slogans in support of Sharjeel Imam, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, arrested on the charges of sedition.
Ms, Chudawala has been charged under Sections 124A (sedition — whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India), 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 505 (statements conducing public mischief), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A single Bench of Justice S.K. Shinde was hearing a plea filed by Ms. Chudawala seeking extension of the pre-arrest bail that she was granted after the sessions court rejected it.
The prosecutor sought time from the court awaiting forensic science laboratory reports, and the matter will now be heard on March 16.
On February 11, the same court had granted anticipatory bail to the student
The court had questioned the applicability of sedition charges, asking if sloganeering satisfied the twin requirement of intention and tendency to disorder or disturb peace by resorting to violence as mentioned in Section 124 A of the IPC. It had said that “a citizen had the right to comment on the government as long as he does not incite violence or creates disorder.”
