Filmmaker Aisha Sultana, against whom a sedition case has been registered, has said that her mobile phone and her brother’s laptop were seized by the Kavaratti police and had been kept somewhere for nearly a month without producing them before courts. They were later sent to a forensic lab in Gujarat via a special messenger “to do something against” her.
In a reply affidavit filed in the Kerala High Court, she said normally all forensic analysis of objects seized from Lakshadweep was done at the labs in Hyderabad, Chennai or Kerala. However, in her case, the prosecution deliberately circumvented the chain of custody of both electronic devices seized, which had “provided an opportunity for them to install any material according to their whims and fancies which is prejudicial to the interest of the petitioner/accused.”
The reply affidavit was filed in response to an affidavit filed by the Lakshadweep administration in her case seeking to quash the sedition case.
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The filmmaker also pointed out that the imputation made by the petitioner in the channel debate was against the standard operating procedure (SOP) relaxation by the new Administrator, who was a former Home Minister in Gujarat. The petitioner apprehended that her mobile phone and her brother’s laptop were seized with a view to “implanting false and dangerous materials in them.”
Predated files
It was possible to install predated media files in an electronic device like a smartphone, with the help of skilled persons. There were so many information technology experts working under the police or they could use the service of private hackers to “create false charges” against her. The analysis report based on a custody-compromised material object could not be considered at any stage of the prosecution.
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The investigation team’s attempts were to cast a shadow of doubt on her. The petitioner is not indulging in any kind of anti-social, anti-national or any other criminal or civil activities, she said.