Parliament breach: Neelam Azad seeks bail; Delhi police asked to file reply

After giving the direction to the police, the additional sessions judge Hardeep Kaur in Patiala House court fixed the hearing for January 10.

Neelam Azad, who moved the bail through advocate Suresh Chaudhary, has asked for it on the grounds of the violation of Article 22. According to her, she was not produced before the court within 24 hours of her arrest.

Azad has been named as a co-conspirator in a Parliament security breach, which took place on December 13, 2023, and was arrested outside the Parliament building on the same day at 1.18 pm.

The plea further stated that however, she was produced before the court on December 14, 2023, after a period of 29 hours from the time of arrest. Azad’s bail plea also stated she was not given enough time to discuss the circumstances of her arrest with the counsel appointed by the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), which prejudiced her case.

Her bail application has been opposed by Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Akhand Pratap Singh who argued that it was not maintainable.

Polygraph test

Meanwhile, the police has sought permission to conduct the polygraph test for all the six accused in the Parliament breach case. The court has listed the hearing on this application by Delhi police on January 5.

The police have also sought to conduct additional tests like brain mapping and narco analysis of Manoranjan and Sagar. All the accused, Lalit Jha, Manoranjan, Sagar, Amol Shinde, Mahesh Kumawat and Nilam Azad, were produced before the court today amid tight security.

While Manoranjan and Sagar had jumped inside the Lok Sabha hall from the visitors’ gallery and opened smoke canisters, Neelam Azad and another accused Amol Shinde were held for opening smoke canisters outside the new Parliament building on December 13.