Aisha Sultana seeks pre-arrest bail from Kerala HC in sedition case

Kochi: The filmmaker and activist Aisha Sultana, who became the voice of Lakshadweep against controversial reforms, moved the Kerala High Court seeking protection from arrest. An FIR with sedition charge has been registered against her by Kavaratti police for calling the newly appointed administrator Praful Khoda Patel a Centre sent 'bio-weapon'.

In her bail plea, she said she feared an imminent arrest once she reaches Kavaratti for an innocuous comment she made during a TV channel debate on 'Media One' for which she had an explanation later along with an apology.

According to a report by LiveLaw, Sultana's bail application states that criticism on political issues does not constitute the offence of sedition under Section 124A IPC. Referring to the Supreme Court judgment in the Kedarnath Case, she also contended that mere criticism of the government is not sedition if there is no incitement to violence.

Sultana, according to the report, has also pointed out that she had issued an explanation on social media that she never had any intention to excite disaffection or hatred towards the Government and offered an apology, realizing that her remarks had sparked off a controversy.

Meanwhile, Police have asked her to appear at Kavaratti police station on June 20.

Sultana was booked on June 10 on sedition charges following a complaint by a BJP leader that she spread false news about the spread of COVID-19 in the union territory during a TV debate regarding the controversial steps taken by Lakshadweep administrator Praful Khoda Patel.

The complaint was filed by the BJP's Lakshadweep unit president Abdul Khader. Sulthana hails from Chetiath island in Lakshadweep. According to the FIR lodged by the Kavaratti police, a case under sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 B (hate speech) of the Indian Penal code has been registered against the filmmaker.

In his complaint filed with the Kavaratti police on Wednesday, Khader said Sulthana, during a debate in a Malayalam TV channel, MediaOne TV, had alleged that the Central government used biological weapons for the spread of COVID-19 in Lakshadweep.

The BJP leader, in his complaint, has alleged that Sultana's was an anti-national act, which tarnished the "patriotic image" of the central government. He sought action against her. The BJP's Lakshadweep unit had also staged a protest in the islands seeking action against the filmmaker.

Defending her side, in the bail plea, the filmmaker says that she made the 'bio-weapon' remark in the context of criticizing the administration relaxing the COVID-19 protocol, which led to a sharp increase of pandemic cases in the island, where there had been not even a single COVID case till January 2021. Lakshadweep is seeing an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases due to the relaxations in the quarantine protocol, and it is in this context that the alleged remarks were made, her bail plea says.

Lakshadweep has been witnessing protests by various political parties since the administration started implementing 'reform' measures in the islands. On 13th June, the "Save Lakshadweep Forum", an umbrella group of local activists and opposition politicians, had decided to observe "Black Day' on Monday (June 14) as the controversial Administrator of Union Territory of Lakshadweep Praful Khoda Patel is all set to reach the islands.

The forum had also decided to stage protest marches in the islands and urged boycott public programs initiated by the administration. The forum which includes Lakshadweep MP Muhammed Faisal, Former MP Hamdulla Syed, urged to wear a black dress and mask to protest against the unilateral decisions and draconian laws implemented by Patel in the islands.