A local court in Delhi has ordered that if there is a need to arrest Shehla Rashid, the police will have to give advance notice of 10 days to her before the arrest. The court issued this order to police while disposing of an anticipatory bail plea filed by the student activist turned politician.
A Delhi court directs police to issue 10 day pre-arrest notice to Shehla Rashid if the need arises to arrest her in the alleged case of defaming Indian Army on social media, while disposing of her anticipatory bail application. pic.twitter.com/N8fMY7AqZy
— ANI (@ANI) November 15, 2019
Shehla Rashid had approached the court seeking anticipatory bail in a case filed against her for defaming Indian army on social media. The JNU freelance protestor-turned-politician is facing several charges under sections 124-A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity), 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code for posting defamatory content against the Indian army.
In a series of tweets posted by Shehla, she had accused the Indian Army of entering houses in the middle of the night, picking up boys and ransacking the homes, deliberately mixing oil with rice. Furthering her propaganda, she had also claimed that the armed forces had picked up four who were then taken into the Army camp. “A mic was kept close to them so that the entire area could hear them scream, and be terrorised. This created an environment of fear in the entire area,” added Shehla Rashid.
However, the Indian Army rejected allegations made by Shehla Rashid regarding the situation in the Jammu and Kashmir and called it “baseless”. “Allegations levelled by Shehla Rashid are baseless and rejected. Such unverified & fake news is spread by inimical elements and organisations to incite unsuspecting population,” said Indian Army.
