After three months of her arrest on charges of sedition and creating communal disharmony, Bengaluru student activist Amulya Leona was granted bail by the 5th ACMM court under the default provision of CrPC 167(2). Following the order, Amulya is expected to be released from Parappana Agrahara jail on Friday, June 12.
Student arrested on sedition
Amulya, a student of journalism and English, is an alumnus of NMKRV College for Women. She was arrested by the Bengaluru Police charging sedition on her for allegedly shouting 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans at an anti- CAA protest in which Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi was also present.
Earlier, the sessions court had rejected her bail plea, stating that she may abscond if released and that the accused may get involved in similar offense which affects peace at large.
The state government had also opposed the student's bail plea. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had earlier said that Amulya has 'has links with naxals' and called the incident an "organised conspiracy."
"Amulya Leona is an influential person who may threaten and influence the witness and hamper the case in case of the prosecution and will abscond if released on bail," the state mentioned while trying to get the court to reject her plea.
She was arrested in February for chanting 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogan at an anti-CAA event in Bengaluru.
Slogans on neighbouring countries
According to R Prasanna, part of the team of advocates that has been arguing the case in court, "There were multiple petitions initiated before different jurisdictional courts on different grounds. CRPC 167(2) defines the statutory time by when the charge sheet is filed based on the charges and time is between 60-90 days. In this case, since 90 days have passed, after the expiry of the 90th day, the 91st day accused is entitled to bail. So we moved a different court for default bail and the order came on Wednesday."
As shown in the video footage of the controversial event, Amulya can be seen shouting "Pakistan Zindabad" thrice, following which she yells, "Hindustan Zindabad" too.
The microphone was soon grabbed from her hand by Owaisi and others present on the stage. Amulya who kept on repeating the slogans was forcefully removed from the stage by the police. She was then charged sedition and taken into police custody.
Before the incident, Amulya had posted slogans praising her neighbouring countries in her Facebook account. "Long Live India! Long Live Pakistan! Long Live Bangladesh! Long Live Sri Lanka! Long live Nepal! Long live Afghanistan! Long Live China! Long Live Bhutan!" she wrote in Kannada.
