The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected a petition by Neha Bora, president of the All India Students’ Association, in which she’d challenged a notice asking her to sign a peace bond before a special executive magistrate over her participation in the recent wave of protests, particularly a Mandi House gathering on October 16, over alleged electoral fraud.
AISA chief Neha Bora had challenged a police notice asking her to sign a peace bond before a special executive magistrate over her participation in the recent wave of protests.
Dipke was released the next day, while Das and Ranka came out on Thursday after seven days of judicial custody. He alleged that Bora was part of a gathering where activist Prashant Bhushan and Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders called for a change of regime. Justice Subramonium Prasad, who had reserved the verdict after hearing arguments on Thursday, pronounced the order after 6 pm. The notice, issued by the SEM court in New Delhi district on October 17, the day Bora was released from detention, directed her to appear before the magistrate and execute a personal bond of ₹10,000 with one surety. During Thursday’s hearing, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Delhi Police, cited 12 instances of alleged violations by Bora and said the proceedings were preventive in nature. The same day, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained at his home ahead of a ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ rally at Connaught Place, called after CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were sent to judicial custody for waving the national flag at Jantar Mantar on October 13.
“There is nothing wrong in regime change in a democracy,” Bora’s counsel, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, told the court. “Regime change will happen by votes, not by lumpen elements congregating in New Delhi,” the police lawyer responded.
