The Lakshadweep administration on Tuesday informed the Kerala High Court that Aisha Sultana, filmmaker and an accused in a sedition case, had refused to give certain documents sought by the Kavaratti police and that she had deleted her mobile chats after the registration of the case.
The submission was made in a statement filed by the Lakshadweep administration in response to Ms. Sultana’s petition seeking to quash the case against her.
The administration said on a close watch of the TV debate, she was found reading something from her mobile phone before making the seditious remarks and she was in constant touch with some others at the time of the debate.
The charge
The statement filed through S. Manu, standing counsel for the administration, also alleged that her financial transactions had not been transparent and investigation into many aspects of the transactions was required. She was not cooperating with the investigation. On the other hand, she had levelled several baseless allegations against the police after filing the petition in the High Court and indulged in a malicious campaign against the police through media.
“Apparently, her aim was to dissuade the police from conducting a proper investigation by unleashing false propaganda,” said the administration.
The statement pointed out that the investigation in the case was only at a preliminary stage. There was not exceptional circumstances warranting quashing of the case.
Charge against channel
The statement further alleged that the TV channel, which had aired the discussion was also not properly cooperating with the investigation and the several information sought by the police through statutory notices had not been furnished by it.
Ms. Sultana’s allegation that the Centre government had used the pandemic as a bio-weapon against the islanders could be prima facie considered as an attempt to excite disaffection among the people towards the Government of India. It had a tendency to create disorder or disturbance of public peace. Therefore, the case had been registered for the offences under Sections 124 A and 153B of the Indian Penal Code, the statement said.
