Kerala HC grants anticipatory bail to Lakshadweep filmmaker Aisha Sultana in sedition case

Kochi, June 25: Kerala High Court granted anticipatory bail to actor-filmmaker Aisha Sultana in the Lakshadweep sedition case. Single-judge Justice Ashok Menon ruled out the order saying that there was no apparent indication of any assertions in Sultana's statement which were prejudicial to the national interest.

 

 

"There is no apparent indication in her statement, which amounts to imputations or assertions prejudicial to the national interest, nor does it propagate any class of persons against another group of persons," the order said.

 

 

 

It should be mentioned that Sultana was moved to the Kerala HC after police lodged an FIR against her on 10 June for calling the Union Territory’s administrator Praful K Patel a “bioweapon”. The Police lodged FIR based on a complaint raised by the BJP Lakshadweep president C Abdul Khader Haji. She had been booked on June 10 under Sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 B (hate speech) of the Indian Penal Code.

 

In the complaint, Haji cited a debate on a Malayalam news channels, in which Sultana called the Union territory’s administrator, Praful Khoda Patel a "bio-weapon". Haji said her words were in bad taste and intended to create hatred and aversion in the minds of people.