The Patiala House court here on Thursday extended the police custody of the four accused arrested in the Parliament security breach case for fifteen days, till January 4, 2024.
Special Judge (National Investigation Agency) Hardeep Kaur extended the custody of Neelam Devi, Manoranjan D., Sagar Sharma, and Amol Shinde.
Taking cognisance of the application filed by the parents of Neelam Devi, seeking a copy of the First Information Report (FIR) filed against their daughter, the court on Thursday ordered the Delhi Police to provide it to the applicants.
The court order came even as the Special Public Prosecutor, representing the police, had said that all information was crucial at this stage, any leakage could influence the investigation, and therefore, the copy of the FIR could not be supplied to the applicant/accused.
The court noted that the accused was entitled to legal assistance even in police custody, and directed the police to allow her to meet her lawyer on every alternate day for 15 minutes.
The accused were produced before the court on the expiration of their seven-day police custody following their arrest on December 13, when the accused in separate groupings entered in the Parliament on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack. Two of them made their way into the Lok Sabha hall, released yellow gas, and shouted slogans, before being subdued by MPs.
They have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for causing a security breach in the Parliament. The police had informed the court that they have included Sections 16 (terrorism) and 18 (conspiracy for terrorism) of the UAPA Act in the charges against the accused.
The Delhi Police submitted in the court that the accused had been planning the incident for the past two years, and had posted incriminating content on social media, highlighting their intent.
The prosecution maintained that the aim of the security breach was to incite fear and have their “illegal demands met”.
The court, on last Friday, had sent the alleged mastermind of the Parliament security breach case, Lalit Jha, to seven-day police custody on December 15. The sixth accused person in the case, Mahesh Kumawat, was also sent to police custody last Saturday.
