New Delhi [India]March 9 (ANI): A court in Delhi on Tuesday extended the interim protection from the arrest of Shantanu Muluk and Nikita Jacob until March 15 in the document “toolbox” related to the farmers’ protest.
Additional judge in the Patiala House court, Dharmender Rana, also called on the Delhi police not to take coercive action against both the accused until March 15, the next day set for the hearing.
Meanwhile, Delhi police submitted the response to Muluk and Jacobs’ expected bail.
During the hearing, Mulu’s defender Vrinda Grover sought a postponement of the case on the grounds that she needed time to go through the document handed over by the Delhi police.
Jacob’s defense attorney and senior counsel Rebecca John and Grover further urged the court to extend the temporary protection from the arrest to their client.
Muluk and Jacob have been granted temporary protection by the Bombay High Court.
A non-civil warrants were issued against Muluk by a court in Delhi and he had subsequently moved to Bombay High Court for the transit bail and the same was granted to him on 16 February.
After being granted the transit adjustment, Shantanu had reached Delhi on 19 February and, having received a summons on the same day, joined the inquiry on 22 February. He has cooperated with the investigation and has handed over all his devices, namely laptop, iPad, and called the police, even though no seizure note was prepared, Muluk said in his bail.
Muluk also claimed that he would comply with all the conditions set by the court.
The bail application also said that Muluk is not a political person and that he has no religious or political goals other than to show sympathy for farmers. The applicant believes in peaceful protest and condemns all violence at all. He has been worried about the environment and that is the only reason why he has worked with the eradication uprising, his bail application stated.
The applicant was told that some “toolbox” has been shared with the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg only after he was informed about the same thing by others, says the bail.
Muluk is suspected in the ongoing “toolbox” documentary case related to the farmers’ protest.
Muluk had joined 21-year-old “climate activist” Disha Ravi with co-accused at the Delhi Police Cyber โโCell office in the national capital for further investigation into the ongoing case.
A court in Delhi had previously granted bail to Disha Ravi.
The 21-year-old activist was arrested from Bengaluru in connection with the formulation and dissemination of the document “toolbox”, in the ongoing peasant protest. She was one of the editors of the “toolkit” document.
On February 3, Thunberg had shared this “toolbox” in a tweet, which she later deleted. She had also increased support for protests by farmers’ associations on the borders of Delhi against the new agricultural laws.
Farmers have been protesting at various borders in the national capital since November 26 last year against the three recently adopted agricultural laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
The implementation of the three laws was set in the Supreme Court in January. (ANI)
Source: sn.dk