Kriti Agrawal –
Aisha Sultana, an activist and filmmaker, was granted anticipatory bail by the Kerala High Court after she was charged with sedition over remarks she made about Lakshadweep administrator Praful Khoda Patel.
According to those familiar with the situation, she was previously summoned by the island police in connection with her ‘bio-weapon’ claims.
Sultana’s bail application was issued by Justice Ashok Menon of the Kerala High Court, the same Single-Judge Bench that had previously granted her anticipatory relief for a week.
On June 10, the Kavaratti Police booked the filmmaker under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after receiving a complaint from Lakshadweep BJP president C Abdul Khader Haji. Sultana was handed a notice under Section 41-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the police requested that she appear in connection with the case at the Lakshadweep Police Headquarters in Kavaratti.
Haji highlighted a debate on a Malayalam news channel in which Sultana referred to the Union territory’s administrator, Praful Khoda Patel, as a bio-weapon in the case.
Haji claimed that her statements were in poor taste and designed to anger and aversion in people’s minds.
During the hearing before the High Court, the filmmaker’s lawyer claimed that the term bio-weapon was coined in the context of criticizing the island’s covid protocol’s relaxations and was intended to represent the aggrieved. She had no idea this term could have such ramifications.
The next day, she apologized. In Lakshadweep, covid regulations were lifted, resulting in an increase in cases. In such context, the terms bio-weapon were used, according to Sultana’s counsel.
However, the Lakshadweep administration’s lawyer rejected the bail request, claiming that Sultana made a forceful and poisonous statement against the Indian government.
