Bail application filed on behalf of Amulya Leona Noronha in Sedition case

A bail application has been filed on behalf of Amulya Leona Noronha, a student who was charged with Sedition for raising pro-Pakistan slogans during an Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally held in Bengaluru last month..On February 20, Noronha spoke at a program organised to protest against the CAA, NRC and NPR. It is alleged that during the speech, she had made statements such as ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ several times and thereby made an attempt to promote enmity between different communities. It was further alleged that her statement affected the unity and integrity of the nation and instigated people to commit breach of peace. Subsequently, she was charged with offences under Section 124A (Sedition), 153A, 153B, 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)..Singing from a different songbook: The role of the courts and the police in curbing the filing of frivolous Sedition cases.The bail plea in this regard states that the police had registered the above case without application of mind, resulting in prosecution of the petitioner on erroneous and non-existent grounds. .The application further states that there is a complete absence of the ingredients of Sedition in the present case. It reads,."...Petitioner has not committed any offence as alleged and all the allegations made against her are wild and baseless. It is to be noted that a perusal of the complaint, remand application would demonstrate that she has not committed any offence. None of the ingredients of the offence have been made out in the complaint. Hence, the Petitioner is presenting this petition seeking her enlargement of bail pending disposal of the above case in the interest of justice."Bail plea filed on behalf of Amulya Leona Noronha.It is further submitted that the police had already conducted extensive investigation into the case, and therefore, there is no additional requirement for the petitioner to be in police custody..Not granting bail might affect the studies of the petitioner, since she is a 19-year-old student pursuing journalism, the application goes on to state. Moreover, the grant of bail would not cause any hardships to the ongoing investigation, the plea added. .The application additionally states, "The offences alleged against the petitioner are not exclusively punishable for life or death penalty and from the contents of the FIR itself the prosecution has no legs stand their case against the petitioner. The allegations does not attract the offences invoked by the respondent police.".Advocate BT Venkatesh will appear on behalf of the petitioner. .A Bangalore Court has posted the matter for objections on March 24.[Read petition here]