The Delhi High Court has reserved its order on All India Students’ Association president Neha Bora’s challenge to a Delhi Police notice requiring her to execute a peace bond over alleged involvement in protest-related activity in central Delhi. The court is expected to pronounce its decision on Friday, while Bora is scheduled to appear before a special executive magistrate on Saturday.
Justice Subramonium Prasad heard arguments for nearly three hours on Thursday. Bora has asked the court to direct the police not to take coercive action against her while challenging the notice, which she says contains factual errors and does not meet the legal requirements for such preventive action.
Bora’s counsel told the court that she was not involved in the Cockroach Janta Party’s October 16 protest call at Central Park in Connaught Place. According to her submission, she had organised a separate gathering at Mandi House. Her lawyers argued that the police notice wrongly associated her with the Connaught Place protest and alleged that the notice had been issued mechanically without independent application of mind by the special executive magistrate.
The notice, as cited during the hearing, accused Bora of shouting loudly at a protest near the Mandi House roundabout, participating in protest-related activities around Jantar Mantar despite prohibitory orders, instigating people to join an unauthorised demonstration at Central Park and attempting to hoist the national flag without permission. Her counsel disputed the allegations and questioned the requirement for permission to hoist the national flag.
The proceedings also focused on Bora’s presence at a press conference where the phrase “regime change” was reportedly used. Additional solicitor-general Chetan Sharma, appearing for Delhi Police, referred to a statement made during a joint gathering that described the protest as a fight for regime change. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing Bora, argued that the statement could not be attributed to her and said that seeking regime change through democratic means was not unlawful.
The exchange brought the broader dispute into the setting in which the notice was issued: central Delhi’s heavily regulated public spaces, where demonstrations are subject to restrictions, police orders and executive-magistrate proceedings concerning public peace. The police maintained that the matter involved more than an isolated protest and told the court that there had been 12 alleged violations by Bora. The law officer also opposed characterising her as an innocent participant.
The court asked whether the police could hold off on enforcing the notice until it decided Bora’s plea. The additional solicitor-general said the police would be willing to accept an undertaking from Bora that she would not breach public peace. The hearing did not result in an interim order, and the court reserved its decision.
The immediate legal question is whether the peace-bond notice was issued on a legally sufficient and factually accurate basis. Until the High Court pronounces its order, the allegations against Bora remain matters argued by the police and disputed by her counsel. The next scheduled steps are the court’s decision on Friday and Bora’s appearance before the special executive magistrate on Saturday.
