A petitioner Advocate today faced the ire of the Karnataka High Court in a plea seeking to transfer the Sedition case against 19-year-old student Amulya Leona Noronha to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
A Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy asked,
“What is so special that investigation should be transferred to NIA?”
Petitioner advocate Pavana Chandra Shetty argued that in Amulya’s case, the state police had not investigated the matter properly and had failed to file the chargesheet within 90 days. Moreover, it was said that Amulya’s case was a serious matter against national integration and unity.
To this, the Court responded in Amulya Leona NIA probe petition,
“Is this the only case where state has not filed chargesheet within the stipulated period?”
Shetty further contended that when the offence is a cognizable one, and when the chargesheet is purposely not filed within the stipulated time, the matter will have to transferred to the appropriate authority.
However, at this juncture, the Court reiterated its question in Amulya Leona NIA probe petition asking,
“Where is the question of cancellation of bail? Can we overide the law and say that bail should be cancelled?”
Due to paucity of time, no order was passed in the matter today.
The matter has been adjourned to July 20.
