Cancel Amulya Leona’s bail, transfer case to NIA: Plea in Karnataka High Court

A petition has been filed has been filed before the Karnataka High Court seeking a transfer of the Sedition case against 19-year-old student Amulya Leona Noronha to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), legal news website BarandBench.com has reported.

Amulya was charged with Sedition for raising pro-Pakistan slogans during an Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally held in Bengaluru in February.

Last week, Amulya was granted bail by a Bengaluru Court after the police failed to file a chargesheet within the stipulated time period of 90 days from her arrest.

The plea has been moved by advocate Vishala Raghu, who was highly aggrieved by the inaction of the state police in initiating timely action against Amulya by not filing the chargesheet within the stipulated time.

This has enabled Amulya to obtain statutory bail though she was not entitled for bail as the Magistrate had rejected her bail application at the first instance, the plea states. As the offences alleged against the student are serious in nature and are concerning the peace and integrity of the nation, the petitioner has prayed that the investigation be handed over to the NIA.

"In the instant case, it is a deliberate act to facilitate the accused to obtain statutory bail and the Respondents 2 to 5 (police authorities) are solely responsible for the delay as there is no proper administrative directions or Standard Operating Procedure to oversee whether the Investigating Officer is conducting the Investigation efficiently and ensure that the said Investigating Officer in any criminal case, files the Charge sheet within the stipulated time as contemplated under Sec.167 of the Criminal Procedure Code," plea filed in Karnataka High Court says.

Additionally, it was stated that in the Hubli Sedition case, the Kashmiri students were granted default bail owing to failure to submit the charge-sheet within the required time. In that case, the investigating officer was suspended due to the same, the petition claims.

The plea also prays for cancellation of Amulya's bail, since the charges are serious in nature and that Amulya is allegedly associated with certain organizations funding acts which are against national interest.