Parliament security breach: Grounds of arrest given to accused, Police to Delhi HC

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court about having "duly supplied" the grounds of arrest to the accused held in the December 2023 Parliament security breach case.

The submission came in response to the court's query whether grounds of arrest were supplied to the accused in the case.

"Our contention is that we have given them the grounds of arrest. Case diary records it, the arrest memo also states that grounds of arrest were given, judicial orders of the trial court and our remand application would also show the same," the prosecutor submitted before a bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar.

The high court heard the submissions and reserved its order on the bail pleas of accused Neelam Azad and Mahesh Kumawat who were arrested in the case.

Though the order on the pleas was reserved on May 20, the court heard the submissions on Wednesday on the point of whether grounds of arrest were given to the accused.

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 court had earlier asked the accused the reason for choosing the specific date of December 13, which is also the date of the 2001 Parliament attack, and place for protest, that is, Parliament when they were aware of earmarked spots for protests in the capital.

It had also 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.

The bail pleas were opposed by the prosecution which said during the preliminary inquiry, it was revealed that accused Azad and Shinde were associates of Sharma and Manoranjan D and they together committed the terror act.

The high court was informed that the trial court has fixed the matter for June 5 for hearing arguments on framing of charges.

It asked the trial court to proceed further and hear the arguments on charge on that day