Mumbai court refuses to grant anticipatory bail to Urvashi Chudawala in sedition case

A Mumbai court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by Urvashi Chudawala, who was recently booked in a sedition case for allegedly raising "anti-national slogans" in support of JNU student Sharjeel Imam.

Additional sessions judge Prashant Rajvaidya rejected the interim relief after hearing arguments from both the sides.

The court observed that prima facie the case of Section 124 (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is made out against her and therefore anticipatory bail cannot be granted.

During the hearing, public prosecutor Jaysinh Desai opposed the relief and said: "she was supporting a person who is officially an enemy of the state."

"We are at an investigation stage, we have to ascertain other several things and for that further investigation is needed. We had registered an FIR on February 3. But there is a diary entry that she was contacted by us on her mobile number which was earlier connected but was unreachable later," Desai told the court.

Arguing that she should not be granted anticipatory bail, Desai said that the crime is very grave and that the investigation is continuing in the matter.

Advocate Vijay Hiremath, appearing on behalf of Chudawala, claimed that her statement doesn't fall under the category of sedition as there are several Supreme Court judgements which have clarified the definition of sedition.

Hiremath sought pre-arrest bail saying that Chudawala was ready to surrender her passport in lieu of anticipatory bail.

An FIR was registered against her and 50 others for allegedly raising slogans in support of Jawarharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam at the 'Mumbai Pride Solidarity Gathering 2020' at Azad Maidan on February 1.

They were booked under Section 124A (Sedition), 153B, 505, 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Imam, who was arrested in a sedition case for alleged provocative speeches, is currently in the remand of Delhi Police. He has been booked under charges of sedition and inciting enmity between communities under Sections 124A, 153A and 505 of the IPC following his speech in which he spoke about "cutting off Assam from India".