The Delhi High Court will hear on October 22 a plea by All India Students’ Association president Neha Bora challenging a Delhi Police notice that asked her to execute a peace bond before a Special Executive Magistrate (SEM), according to a report by Millennium Post.
Justice Subramonium Prasad deferred the matter at the request of Bora’s counsel. The petition seeks to quash the police notice and restrain the authorities from taking coercive action against her.
The notice was issued on October 17 under Section 126 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). It directed Bora to appear before the SEM on October 19 and explain why she should not be required to furnish a personal bond of Rs 10,000 along with one surety to maintain peace.
Bora was detained on October 16 while she was travelling to join the Cockroach Janata Party’s ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ march. She was released on October 17, the report said.
In her petition, Bora has alleged that the notice was vague and unsupported by evidence. Her plea argues that the proceedings were intended to suppress peaceful dissent and violated her fundamental rights. These are the petitioner’s claims before the court and have not been adjudicated in the material supplied for the report.
Preventive proceedings before a Special Executive Magistrate allow authorities to require a person to explain why a bond for maintaining peace should not be imposed. In this case, the proposed bond and surety requirement form the central issue in Bora’s challenge to the police action.
The petition was listed urgently during the High Court’s Dussehra vacation. The court’s scheduled hearing on October 22 will determine the next stage of the challenge and any directions concerning the notice or proposed coercive action.
