New Delhi, Sep11 (UNI) A Delhi court on Wednesday dismissed the bail application of Neelam Ranolia, one of the accused in the Parliament security breach last December.
Additional Sessions Judge Hardeeep Kaur after hearing argument on behalf of prosecution and the defence dismissed the bail application, saying ” ..there are sufficient reasonable grounds for believing that the allegations made against applicant /accused Neelam Ranoliya are prima facie true.”
“Therefore, this court does not find it to be a fit case to grant regular bail to applicant/accused Neelam Ranoliya and the present bail application stands dismissed”.
The defence counsel, after moving the bail application, submitted before the court that the applicant alongwith five other co-accused persons, has been accused of illegally entering into Parliament and throwing smoke canisters into the Lok Sabha while it was in session.
The counsel claimed that Neelam was not involved in the Parliament security breach in any manner and she has been falsely implicated in the present case. He submitted that his client was in judicial custody since December 14 last year and the investigation and filing of charge-sheet was already complete and only the forensic result result regarding non-digital exhibits is still pending.
He submitted the principal accused was Manoranjan and Nelam was not part of the alleged conspiracy to carry out a terror act inside Parliament. She was only interested in raising protests outside Parliament to highlight the social issues and the unemployment crisis.
He further submitted that despite long and intense investigation and despite all efforts, the prosecution has failed to attribute any motive or intention on the part of Neelam to cause any kind of alleged disruption or terror act inside Parliament.
He argued that Neelam along with co-accused Amol Shinde allegedly opened smoke canisters and threw pamphlets and raised slogans. He submitted that smoke canister is not harmful and is unlikely to cause any kind of harm to anybody in any manner.
He requested for bail saying the present matter is at the stage of scrutiny of documents; 133 witnesses have been cited by the prosecution and trial in the instant matter is likely to consume considerable time.
He submitted that his client is not a flight risk and all the recoveries have already been effected and there is no likelihood of her tampering with the evidence or influencing the witnesses. He submitted that she is ready to abide by any term or condition imposed by the court while granting her bail.
Opposing the bail plea, the government counsel submitted there is statutory bar under section 43 (D)(5) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) whereby the accused shall not be released on bail, if there are reasonable grounds for believing the allegations against the accused persons are prima facie true.
It is further submitted by the government counsel that the accused is involved in the offence which is punishable upto life sentence or death penalty.
The allegations against the accused persons are grave, serious and heinous in nature as they are involved in disrupting the sovereignty and integrity of India. He further submitted that there is sufficient material available on record against the accused which shows her involvement in the offence attracting the provisions of UAPA.
The government counsel submitted that exposition of law regarding triple test principle is not satisfied in the present case as the accused is at flight risk, and there is every likelihood of the accused threatening or influencing the witnesses and tampering evidence if released on bail.
The Court also extended the judicial custody of all the accused – Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat and Neelam Ranolia till October 16.
