A petition has been filed before the Karnataka High Court, seeking transfer of sedition case against the 19-year-old student Amulya Leona Noronha to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The petition filed by Advocate Vishal Raghu sought for transfer of Leona’s case to NIA while being highly aggrieved by the inaction of state police in initiating timely action and blaming that the probe team failed to file the charge sheet on time. “This has enabled Amulya to obtain statutory bail though she was not entitled to bail as the Magistrate had rejected her bail application at the first instance” stated the plea.
Amulya was charged with Sedition for raising pro-Pakistan slogans during an Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally held in Bengaluru in the presence of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi, in February. Reportedly, she was granted bail in the last week by a Bengaluru court after the police failed to file a charge sheet within the stipulated period of 90 days, from her arrest, as contemplated under Section 167(2)(a)(ii) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
“In the instant case, it is a deliberate act to facilitate the accused to obtain statutory bail and the Respondents 2 to 5 (police authorities) are solely responsible for the delay as there is no proper administrative directions or Standard Operating Procedure to oversee whether the Investigating Officer is conducting the Investigation efficiently and ensure that the said Investigating Officer in any criminal case files the Charge sheet within the stipulated time as contemplated under Section 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code” read the plea.
Additionally, it was stated that in the Hubli Sedition case, the Kashmiri students were granted default bail owing to failure to submit the charge-sheet within the required time. In that case, the investigating officer was suspended due to the same, the petition claims.
Further, the plea also sought for cancellation of Amulya’s bail, since the charges are serious in nature and while contending that Amulya is allegedly associated with certain organizations funding acts which are against national interest.
