AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Tuesday granted conditional bail to the leader of Pattalgadi movement, Babita Kachhap, who was arrested by Gujarat ATS from Vyara on charges of sedition and conspiring to wage a war against the nation.
While ordering the release of the tribal rights activist, the HC noted that her raising a voice by interpreting the Constitution in her own manner does not show how she committed an offence of sedition or conspired to wagea war against the nation. Moreover, there was no disturbance noted in Gujarat because of her movement, especially during her stay here.
Kachhap was arrested in July 2020 allegedly for instigating the followers of Sati-Pati tribal cult in Gujarat to take violent means by wrong interpretation of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and wage a war against India. The police claimed that Kachhap’s associates and co-accused in cases lodged against her in Jharkhand had made people fight on the basis of caste and class. The police also claimed that documents and mobile phones seized from her contained incriminating material.
After hearing Kachhap’s advocates Zubin Bharda and A A Zabuawala, Justice S H Vora granted bail to her on furnishing bond of Rs 20,000 with one surety of the same amount. The court observed that during Kachhap’s stay in Gujarat, no actual violence or breach of peace occurred at any point of time. The FIR was registered only on basis of the cases lodged against her in Jharkhand.
The high court noticed that the literature seized from her was available on internet and the government could show any incriminating material that could lead to invocation of Section 121A and 124A of IPC. Merely because she raises her voice “in the line of her interpretation of Fifth Schedule, there is any overt act or any response from anyone in public and therefore, presence of mens rea which is essential element to make out an offence under Sections 124(A) and 153(A) of IPC is not available on record”.
