Parliament security breach: Delhi HC seeks police reply on Manoranjan D's bail plea

New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought Delhi Police's response on the bail plea of one of the accused persons held for the Parliament security breach on December 13, 2023.

A bench of Justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Anup Jairam Bhambhani issued a notice to the police on Manoranjan D's petition challenging a trial court's order refusing him bail.

The court posted the matter on July 24.

The counsel for Manoranjan, who denied bail on December 24, 2024, said though their "method" of protesting was wrong, they had no intention to commit any terrorist act by entering Parliament.

"Whether their act comes under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the question is this. They all are highly educated. Their intention was to demonstrate issues like unemployment. The way they adopted was totally wrong. The method was wrong and it is none of their business to protest like this," he said.

Justice Singh, however, remarked, "Highly educated people are more dangerous." The plea said the petitioner was innocent and arrested without any tangible evidence, let alone a probable inference by the investigating agency.

Neither did the probe agency recover any material nor was there anything remaining to be recovered from the accused which warranted further custody, it added.

The high court had previously sought the police's response on the bail plea filed of another accused Neelam Azad.

The trial court had noted all the accused persons -- Azad, Manoranjan, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat -- had prior knowledge about the threat given by designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu for targeting Parliament on December 13, 2023.

Despite the threat perception, the accused persons being aware of the same carried out the alleged offence in the Parliament on the same day, it had observed.

In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack, Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted slogans before they were overpowered by some MPs. Around the same time, two other accused -- Amol Shinde and Azad -- sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting "tanashahi nahi chalegi" outside Parliament premises.

These four were taken into custody from the spot, while Jha and Kumawat were arrested later.

The prosecution had opposed the bail application, calling the offence "grave". It was alleged that Azad was involved in disrupting the sovereignty and integrity of India.