NE LEGAL BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, AUG 3
The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday granted bail to a Pathalgadi movement activist from Jharkhand, arrested in Gujarat on the charges of sedition and `waging war against the government’.
Babita Kashyap had been arrested by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) last year for allegedly inciting tribals against the Gujarat government.
Justice S H Vora granted her bail on a personal bond of Rs 20,000. She shall not leave India without the session court’s permission, the order said.
Kashyap was arrested by the Gujarat ATS on July 24, 2020, claiming that she already had several offenses registered against her in Jharkhand in connection with the Pathalgadi movement launched by a section of tribals in that state.
She and her associates tried to instigate the followers of the Sati-Pati sect of tribals in Gujarat’s Kevadiya, Dahod, Chhota Udeipur and Vyara areas to resort to violence by misinterpreting the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and Panchayats (Extension of Schedule Areas) (PESA) Act, 1996, it said.
Before the FIR was lodged, Kashyap, who is the national organization secretary of the Adivasi Mahasabha, had moved the Supreme Court with a plea to direct the Governor to function as per the advice of the Tribes Advisory Council for schedule areas and tribal areas as per the Fifth Schedule. The petition is pending before the apex court, the high court was told.
The high court noted that no actual incident of violence took place during her stay in Gujarat, and the material seized from her is available on the internet and does not make out a case for sedition or waging war against government. Also, it could not be established that any disturbance was caused on account of the Pathalgadi movement as alleged in the FIR, the court said.
