The Kerala High Court has allowed anticipatory bail to filmmaker, actor and model Aisha Sultana accused of sedition, offence under Section 124-A (Sedition) and for making imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration, an offence punishable under Section 153-B of the Indian Penal Code.
A single-judge bench of Justice Ashok Menon noted, “The applicant has no criminal antecedents. She is not likely to flee from justice.” The anticipatory bail application has been filed on the grounds that the allegations of sedition and inciting disharmony among groups of people are totally false and unsustainable and that it is made with ulterior motive and vexatious intentions.
A written complaint had been made by BJP Lakshadweep President C. Abdul Khader to the District Collector that a film director from Chethalath Island had made serious allegations against the Central government on Media One channel’s TV debate on June 7. Lakshadweep MP Muhammad Faisal, CPM’s Komalam Koya and the BJP’s Sri Vishnu were also part of the debate in which she said th Centre was using “biological weapon” against the people of the island.
Sultana submitted before the court, “As a native of the island is against the implementation of the revised and relaxed SOP bringing about the change in Covid 19 protocol for those who reach the islands.” However, the Court observed, “there is no apparent indication in her statement, which amounts to imputations or assertions prejudicial to the national interest, nor does it propagate any class of persons against another group of persons.”