Prima facie sedition case made out, Gilani denied bail: Court

Former DU lecturer SAR Gilani, booked for sedition charges in connection with a Press Club event here, was today denied bail by a Delhi court which said the slogans raised at this meeting could have incited violence and created public disorder.
Metropolitan Magisrate Harvinder Singh dismissed Gilani's bail plea after taking note of a CCTV footage produced by the police.
"Since the applicant/accused along with 20-25 other youth were raising anti-national slogans, slogans for Azadi of Kashmir and were raising slogans hailing Maqbool Bhatt and Afzal Guru as martyrs who were convicted and executed..., it can be inferred from the slogans raised by the applicant/ accused along with 20-25 other youth that they intended to bring Government of India into contempt with likelihood of eruption of violence and public disorder...

"Hence this court do not find force in the submissions of the counsel for accused that even prima facie case for offence punishable under section 124A of IPC is not attracted in this matter... Therefore the application of grant of bail is hereby rejected," the judge said.
The court also took note of the statements of two Press Club officials who stated that Gilani, along with other youths, was chanting slogans on freedom for Kashmir and calling Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru as martyrs.
"In view of the same, in the opinion of this court, there is prima facie case for offence punishable under section 124-A (sedition) read with section 120B (criminal conspiracy) against the accused," the court said.

During arguments, the police opposed the bail plea saying the offence was grave and there was apprehension that he might try to influence the investigation and tamper with the evidence if released on bail.

The counsel for the police also alleged that "there has been incitement and hatred generated against the government of India. The entire purpose of the event was to create disloyalty among the people of India."
It also claimed that Gilani was not cooperating with the probe and not telling the whereabouts of the others involved in booking the conference hall where the event was held.
Advocate Satish Tamta, appearing for Gilani, told the court that the police was relying on clips of news channels and a CCTV footage recording of the Press Club of India.

"The police is saying the investigation is at initial
stage and I should be in jail till the same is completed. But I am not running anywhere," Gilani's counsel said.
He also said the police has been trying to prejudice the mind of this court, saying that Gilani was an accused in Parliament attack case.
"The Delhi high court and the Supreme Court have acquitted me in the case. I cannot make confession in the name of cooperation. I have been acquitted in 2003. I have my roots and my family here. To keep me in jail on apprehension that I will run away is denial of my right," he said.

At the Press Club event, a group had allegedly shouted slogans hailing Guru, following which the police had lodged a case under sections 124A (sedition), 120B(criminal conspiracy) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC against Gilani and other unnamed persons.
The police had claimed to have registered the FIR taking suo motu cognisance of media clips of the incident.
Following registration of the FIR, the police questioned DU professor Ali Javed, a Press Club member who had booked the hall for the event, for two days.
Gilani was arrested in connection with the 2001 Parliament attack case but was acquitted for "need of evidence" by the Delhi High Court in October 2003, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in August 2005.