Delhi High Court Rejects Challenge Against Peace Bond Notice for Student Activist

During the ongoing agitations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged poll irregularities, special executive magistrates (SEM) in New Delhi recently asked Cockroach Janta Party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, and All India Students’ Association’s Neha Bora to sign peace bonds following their calls for protest. The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected Bora’s challenge against a police notice asking her to execute a peace bond before a SEM. Bora's counsel had argued that citizens did not need permission to hoist the national flag and that there was nothing wrong in seeking regime change in a democracy. He also contended that there was no application of mind or independent opinion at the time of issuance of the notice on peace bond, adding it was a mere cut-and-paste job. But the court contended that the nature of the SEM proceedings was preventive and to ensure there was no breach of peace or tranquillity. It added that at the stage of notice, it does not want to sit on the “armchair of the SEM" to decide if there was sufficient material or information.