KOCHI: The Lakshadweep administration on Tuesday informed the Kerala High Court that filmmaker-activist Aisha Sultana, who is accused in a sedition case, deleted her mobile chats after the registration of the case by Kavaratti police and is not cooperating with the probe.
Opposing Aisha's plea to quash the case, the administration stated that she has not cooperated properly with the police and deleted several chats and messages in a suspicious manner after registration of the case. On a close watch of the TV debate, she was found reading something from her mobile phone before making the seditious remarks and she was in constant touch with some others at the relevant time.
Her financial transactions are also not transparent and investigation into many aspects is required, the Lakshadweep administration said. “She has not been properly cooperating with the investigation and refused to provide documents demanded by the police. On the other hand, she raised several baseless allegations against police after filing the petition in the HC and indulged in a malicious campaign against the police through media. Apparently, her aim is to dissuade the police from conducting a proper investigation by unleashing false propaganda,” submitted the administration.
The statement filed through S Manu, standing counsel for the Lakshadweep administration, further alleged that the management of the Media One channel, which aired the discussion, was also not properly cooperating with the investigation and information sought by the police through statutory notices has not been furnished by the channel. “The investigation in the case is only at the preliminary stage. Quashing of it is justified only in exceptional circumstances and no such special circumstances exist in the case on hand," the administration said.
The administration has justified the registration of the case stating that she had alleged that the Union government used the Covid pandemic as a bioweapon against the people of the Union territory of Lakshadweep. She also compared it with the allegation that China has used the Covid virus as a bioweapon against other countries which obviously suggests that the government of India has acted similarly against the people of Lakshadweep.
"The untrue assertion by the petitioner in this regard is sufficient to arouse hatred among the people of Lakshadweep towards the government of India. It can be prima facie considered as an attempt to excite disaffection among the people towards the government of India," the administration said.
The statement made by her has a tendency to create disorder or disturbance of public peace by resorting to violence. Hence the case has been registered for the offences under Sections 124 A and 153B. She later made some clarifications and justifications probably as an afterthought to get rid of the penal consequences, said the administration. "Such actions will not absolve the criminal liability for the offence already completed. There was also no requirement of any imminent violence to sustain a charge under section 124 A as canvassed by the petitioner," said the administration.