Parliament breach: Accused can't compare themselves with Bhagat Singh, says Delhi HC

New Delhi: Calling the Parliament building India's pride, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday said nobody could play a prank in there and those arrested for its security breach in 2023 couldn't equate themselves with martyrs like Bhagat Singh.

A bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar further asked Delhi Police to explain why the accused persons were booked for an offence punishable under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

"Nobody can even play a prank or do something like... in the Parliament building which is of course the pride of the country. Nobody is saying anything about that. But the question is whether an offence under UAPA, which has stricter bail considerations, made out? There can be other Acts under which you can proceed. No problem in that. The issue is whether offence under UAPA is made out," the bench said.

The court was hearing the bail pleas of Neelam Azad and Mahesh Kumawat who were arrested in the case.

The high court asked the police to explain whether carrying or using a smoke canister, inside and outside Parliament attracted UAPA and if it fell under the definition of terrorist activities.

"Otherwise their liberty should be not curtailed and you (police) can continue with the trial and they can be let out on bail. They are only on the application for bail," the bench said.

The high court went on, "We are not for a minute saying that they have done a prank or a protest and this is the form of protest. No, this is not a form of protest and you are actually disrupting a place where serious work gets transited, where laws for the country are made. It is not a joke. It is not even a place where you can compare yourself to martyrs like Bhagat Singh who have done it. You (accused) cannot equate yourselves with them. Still the question is UAPA."

Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, representing Delhi Police, referred to the incident on December 13, also the date of 2001 Parliament attack, and argued it was a premeditated act and the authorities were taking it "very seriously".

"It has certainly caused terror in the parliamentarians, they were shocked," he added.

Since the place of the incident was Parliament, Sharma said, even a small act would be viewed with a magnitude of a different variety.

"This is an emerging situation and this type of an act has been done for the first time in the newly constructed Parliament," he said.

The bench asked him to support his statement with a case law or any other material and posted the bail pleas on May 19.

"Smoke canisters do not have metal inside them that is why they passed through the metal detectors. It does not have metal that is why it does not emit sharpness to hurt people and passed through the gates. It is the same as we use in Holi and IPL. You see it in children's parties as well," it said.

As the prosecutor defended its case saying the court must see the intention with which smoke canisters were used in Parliament by the accused, the bench clarified it was not calling the actions of the accused correct.

In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack, accused Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D allegedly jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and sloganeered before they were overpowered by some MPs.

Around the same time, two other accused -- Amol Shinde and Azad -- allegedly sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting "tanashahi nahi chalegi (dictatorship won't work)" outside the Parliament premises.

The police claimed detailed investigations indicated Manoranjan and his associates had been planning a disruptive terror attack in Parliament.

The trial court rejected Azad's bail plea, saying there was sufficient evidence to believe allegations against her were "prima facie" true.

All accused persons -- Azad, Manoranjan D, Sagar Sharma, Amol Dhanraj Shinde, Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat -- already had the knowledge about the threat given by designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu for targeting Parliament on December 13, 2023, it added.

Four were taken into custody from the spot whereas Jha and Kumawat were arrested later.