Chudawala approaches HC for pre-arrest bail in sedition case

A 22-year-old student on Friday approached Bombay High Court seeking pre arrest bail in a sedition case lodged against her for allegedly shouting a slogan in support of jailed JNU student Sharjeel Imam at a LGBTQ event.

Urvashi Chudawala approached HC on Friday after a sessions court rejected her anticipatory bail plea on February 5.

Chudawala's lawyer, Vijay Hiremath, mentioned the plea before Justice S K Shinde who posted it for hearing on February 11.

The student was not granted interim protection from arrest by the sessions court to enable her to approach HC.

Chudawala is a student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences in the city.

According to police, during a rally of the Lesbian- Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer community at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai last week, Chudawala shouted the slogan "Sharjeel Tere Sapno Ko Hum Manzil Tak Pahuchaenge" (Sharjeel, we will realise your dreams).

Sharjeel Imam, a PhD student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for Historical Studies, was arrested on January 28 from Bihar after he was booked in sedition cases lodged across several states for alleged "inflammatory" speeches made during protests against Citizenship Amendment Act.

According to Chudawala's plea, the slogan was taken out of context to allege she wanted to create hatred against a community.

The plea added that a particular section of society may not agree with the slogan but that does not amount to sedition.

Mumbai's Azad Maidan police registered a case against Chudawala and 50 others (unidentified persons) on February 3 after a video showing Chudawala raising slogans in support of Imam went viral after the LGBTQ rally on February 1.