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

By LE Desk

Kochi, June 25, 2021: The Kerala high court today granted anticipatory bail to Aisha Sultana, activist and filmmaker, who is facing a sedition charge over her remarks against Lakshadweep administrator Praful Khoda Patel. 

She was earlier summoned by the island police in connection with her ‘bio-weapon’ remarks, said people familiar with the development.

Justice Ashok Menon at the Kerala high court passed the order on Sultana’s bail application, the same single-judge bench that had earlier granted her anticipatory bail for a week, reported the Hindustan Times.

The case was registered against the filmmaker on June 10 when the Kavaratti Police booked her under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint by Lakshadweep BJP president C Abdul Khadar Haji. Sultana was served a notice under Section 41A Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the police asked her to appear at Lakshadweep Police headquarters in Kavaratti, in connection with the case.

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.

During the hearing before the high court, the filmmaker’s counsel said that the words “bio-weapon” were used in the context of criticising the relaxations given in the Covid protocol in the island and was made to represent the aggrieved lot.