Now Reading: Bail for 7 TISS students, denied for 2 in Maoist case
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Bail for 7 TISS students, denied for 2 in Maoist case
A sessions court in Mumbai on Friday granted anticipatory bail to seven Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) students in a case over an unauthorised event held in October 2024 to commemorate…
The Story in Brief
A sessions court in Mumbai on Friday granted anticipatory bail to seven Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) students in a case over an unauthorised event held in October 2024 to commemorate the first death anniversary of professor G N Saibaba, reports Times of India. The court held that downloading Maoist literature or paying homage to Saibaba, who was acquitted in a UAPA case, does not amount to an offence. It, however, denied bail to two students, Abhirup Paul and Kamakhya Das, citing allegations of possessing Maoist-linked material, deleted data, and a threat to a police officer. The court noted that slogans allegedly raised for Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam were inappropriate. The seven granted relief had no incriminating material recovered from them. The ruling came after a delay due to case transfer and change of judge.
The Indian Opinion
The court's ruling strikes a rare balance: downloading books is not an offence, but neither is it a licence to threaten witnesses or raise slogans for UAPA-accused activists. Both sides oversimplify, one cries witch-hunt, the other sees conspiracy in every pamphlet. The test now is whether the police can prove that Paul and Das's deleted data and field visits cross into actual criminality, or whether this remains a case of guilt by association.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
