The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Delhi Police on the bail plea filed by Manoranjan D, one of the accused in the December 13, 2023, Parliament security breach case.
A bench of Justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Anup Jairam Bhambhani issued notice on Manoranjan’s plea challenging a trial court’s order dated December 24, 2024, which had rejected his bail. The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 24.
Appearing for the accused, the counsel submitted that although the method of protest adopted by the group was inappropriate, it was not intended to be a terrorist act. “They are highly educated individuals. Their intention was to highlight issues like unemployment, but the way they chose was absolutely wrong. The method was wrong, but they had no terrorist intent,” he argued.
Justice Singh, however, commented, “Highly educated people are more dangerous,” highlighting the court’s concern over the potential misuse of education in sensitive matters.
The bail plea claimed that Manoranjan was innocent and had been arrested without any concrete evidence or recovery of any incriminating material that would justify his continued custody. It further argued that the investigating agency had nothing left to recover from the accused.
This is not the first bail plea in the case. The High Court had earlier sought the police’s reply on a similar plea filed by co-accused Neelam Azad.
The trial court, while denying bail to all the accused, had noted that they were aware of a threat issued by designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu to target Parliament on December 13, 2023. Despite this, they proceeded with the alleged act on the same day, raising serious concerns over national security.
The incident, which occurred on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack, involved Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D jumping into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, releasing yellow gas and shouting slogans before being subdued by MPs. Simultaneously, outside Parliament, co-accused Amol Shinde and Neelam Azad released coloured gas and raised slogans against authoritarianism. All four were apprehended at the spot, while Lalit Jha and Mahesh Kumawat were arrested later.
