Kochi: The Kerala High Court has granted interim anticipatory bail to the filmmaker Aisha Sultana on Thursday on the sedition case filed against her.
Justice Ashok Menon granted the filmmaker an interim anticipatory bail for a week and has asked her to appear before the Kavaratti police on June 20 for interrogation under Section 41A CrPC notice.The court also notified that she should be granted interim bail incase the police arrest her.
The filmmaker hailing from Lakshadweep was booked under Sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 B(assertions against national integration) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for her allegedly criticizing the Island administrator Praful Khoda Patel during a Malayalam TV channel discussion, wherein she said the Union government used a "bio-weapon" in the Union Territory.
Though Aisha in her statement clarified that the relaxations in Covid protocols by the new administrator which lead to spike in cases in the Island is what she meant as bio terror, the Lakshadweep police booked her on June 8 based on a complaint filed by BJP's Lakshadweep unit president, Abdul Khader.