The Gauhati High Court has granted bail to an Assam woman who was booked for sedition for allegedly having lunch on a tablecloth resembling the Indian national flag.
Rajina Parbin Sultana was arrested on May 16 after the police in Abhayapuri in western Assam’s Bongaigaon district registered a case against her for sedition. She was also charged under a relevant Section of the Prevention to Insult of National Honour Act, 1971.
The FIR against her said she had on May 14 invited some guests for lunch on the occasion of Eid. A photo circulated on social media showed her serving lunch to her guests on a table that had a tablecloth resembling the national flag, the FIR said.
Five others were also arrested but were released on bail on March 25 while she continued to be in custody since May 16.
Hearing her bail plea on June 8, the High Court Bench of Justice Manish Choudhury noted: “It does not prima facie suggest to be an act to have the affect (sic) of subverting the Government by bringing that Government into contempt or hatred or creating disaffection against it.”
The court observed that the question of whether Ms. Sultana, by her act, had committed the offence under Section 2 of the Prevention to Insult of National Honour Act, 1971, “in any public place or any other place within public view is to be considered on the basis of the materials collected during the course of the investigation and its admissibility during the course of the trial”.
Considering the period of her detention and the progress made in the investigation, the court said “further custodial detention of the accused-petitioner was not necessary”.
She was directed to be released on furnishing a bail bond of ₹20,000 and a local surety of the same amount.
