
House security breach: HC questions choice of venue, reserves bail order
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved its decision on the bail pleas of Neelam Azad and Mahesh Kumawat, accused in the December 13, 2023, Parliament security breach, questioning why the accused chose the Parliament on that particular day for their protest when there are designated places for demonstrations in the capital.
A division bench comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar heard arguments from the accused's lawyers and Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, representing Delhi Police, before reserving the order.
During the hearing, the bench asked, 'Why pick that date and that place, knowing it is the Parliament? Does holding a protest there not intimidate the nation?'
The accused's counsel replied that these matters should be settled during trial and argued that their actions do not amount to a terrorist act as defined under Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The court said it must decide whether the choice of place, date, and manner of the protest collectively qualifies as an offence under the UAPA.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Indian Express
28 minutes ago
- Indian Express
33% seat reservation: Govt looks at quota for women in next Lok Sabha polls
The Modi government intends to roll out reservation of seats for women, which is linked to the delimitation exercise, in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, highly-placed sources said Wednesday. Official sources said the government is targeting implementation of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam that reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies in the next election. 'The Census has been announced and the other steps will follow. The women's reservation Bill is linked to the delimitation process. We are aiming to roll it out in the next election,' sources in the government said. According to the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, passed in September 2023, reservation of one-third of seats for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies shall come into effect after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken based on figures from the first Census that is conducted after the enactment of the Act. Earlier this month, the government announced that the process of data collection for the Census, along with caste enumeration, would commence next year and offer a snapshot of the country's population as on March 1, 2027. For women's reservation to become a reality in the next Lok Sabha elections, delimitation will have to be completed well in time for the Election Commission of India to conduct the 2029 polls on the basis of the new delimitation of constituencies. Government sources claimed that the Census data will be available faster than the previous time with the advancement of technology – the enumeration will be conducted digitally using mobile applications for data collection and a central portal to collate the details and manage it. The Census data is significant for delimitation because the process of readjusting the seats of Lok Sabha and state Assemblies and redrawing their territorial boundaries is expected to be launched once the data is available. There have been concerns among southern states regarding delimitation changing the proportion of seats allocated to various states in Lok Sabha to conform to the constitutional principle of 'one person, one vote, one value', which will lead to a jump in seats for the northern states where populations have grown briskly since 1971 and reduce the relative weight of southern states where the population rate has slowed down in the same period. Senior ministers have said that the concerns expressed by the southern states will be addressed, and that no room for complaints will be left. In February this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the southern states would not lose even a single seat on a pro-rata basis, making A Raja of the DMK ask whether pro-rata meant population-based or based on the present number of constituencies. Later, at the RSS's Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha meet at Bengaluru, RSS joint general secretary K Mukunda said the share of seats of the southern states would be maintained as it is in case the number of Lok Sabha seats is increased via delimitation. However, NDA ally Upendra Kushwaha has already made 'justice for Bihar', through allocation of seats as per present population share, as a poll plank for the Bihar Assembly elections, taking the line multiple times in Bihar and Delhi. For delimitation to happen after the next Census, Parliament will have to pass a Delimitation Act, which will constitute a Delimitation Commission for the exercise that is likely to lead to an increase in Lok Sabha seats. Article 82 of the Constitution mandates readjustment of seats after every Census. However, the present Lok Sabha reflects the population figures of the 1971 Census because the delimitation of seats was frozen in 1976 for 25 years, and in 2001 for another 25 years, through Constitutional amendments, with the Vajpayee government stating in 2002 that this would provide an incentive for family planning. If another Constitutional amendment is not passed by Parliament by 2026, the freeze on delimitation will automatically be over. Under Article 81(2) (a) of the Constitution, 'there shall be allotted to each State a number of seats in the House of the People in such manner that the ratio between that number and the population of the state is, so far as practicable, the same for all States'. The only exception to this rule are small states whose population do not exceed six million.


Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Police attach property of notorious drug peddler in Handwara
Handwara police attached property worth lakh belonging to a notorious drug peddler under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Police said that acting under Section 68-F of the NDPS Act, Handwara police station attached two commercial shops along with the land situated at Handwara main market, belonging to Javaid Ahmad Sofi of Khunbal Handwara. 'The attachment was executed in the presence of first class executive magistrate, Handwara, in connection with case FIR No. 193/2024 U/S 8/21 NDPS Act of Handwara police station,' the spokesman said, adding that preliminary investigation has revealed that the said property was acquired through proceeds generated from illegal narcotics trade. The accused is also involved in case FIR No. 266/2022 U/S 8/21 NDPS Act registered at Handwara police action is part of police's ongoing efforts to dismantle the financial infrastructure of drug traffickers by targeting and confiscating illegally acquired assets,' the officer added.


Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
‘Bribe for Bail' case: Court clerk withdraws pleas for anticipatory bail, quashing of FIR
A court ahlmad (clerk) accused of demanding bribes on behalf of a judicial officer withdrew his pleas from the Delhi High Court on Wednesday — one for anticipatory bail, and another for quashing of the FIR. Justice Tejas Karia dismissed the pleas as withdrawn following the withdrawal request. The request comes on the heels of multiple hearings. Further, the Anti-Corruption Bureau(ACB), in its latest status report, indicated the possible involvement of the wife of the accused ahlmad, also a court staffer. On May 16, the ACB had lodged an FIR against the clerk under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The Special Judge of Rouse Avenue Court was then transferred on May 20. Subsequently, the ahlmad filed for anticipatory bail in a Rouse Avenue court, which had rejected the plea on May 22. During the bail hearing, the clerk had argued that the ACB had filed a 'false fabricated FIR' against him, contending that the enforcement agency had 'tried to frame' the Special Judge to 'settle a score with' him. Meanwhile, the prosecution opposed the bail on the grounds that the clerk was a prime offender and was likely to tamper with evidence. It was also argued that a handwritten slip was allegedly provided by him to the complainant, which indicated his involvement in the alleged offence. The Indian Express on May 24 had reported that on January 29 this year, the Delhi government's Anti-Corruption Branch wrote to the Principal Secretary, Department of Law, Justice, and Legislative Affairs, seeking permission to initiate a probe against a Special Judge in the Rouse Avenue Court and his court's ahlmad over allegations of 'demand and acceptance of bribes for granting bail to accused persons.' The request, however, was passed on to the High Court. Even as the HC turned down the request on February 14, saying the ACB did not have 'sufficient material' against the Special Judge, it asked the ACB to continue its investigation. The judge was later transferred from Rouse Avenue Court to another court.