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Parliament Security Breach: Delhi HC grants bail to accused Neelam Azad, Mahesh Kumawat; asks to furnish ₹50,000 bond

Parliament Security Breach: Delhi HC grants bail to accused Neelam Azad, Mahesh Kumawat; asks to furnish ₹50,000 bond

Mint02-07-2025
The Delhi High Court on July 2 granted bail to Neelam Azad and Mahesh Kumawat, the two accused in the 2023 Parliament security breach, PTI reported. This is subject to furnishing bail bonds of ₹ 50,000 each and two sureties of the like amount, it added.
The accused, Neelam Azad and Mahesh Kumawat have also been barred from giving interviews, holding press conferences, or posting anything on social media regarding the incident.
The Delhi HC bench presided by Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar have further been asked to not leave Delhi and report to the police station every Monday.
The case was heard by the higher court after Azad and Kumawat challenged a trial court's order rejecting their bail pleas.
In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack, other accused in the case Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D allegedly jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and sloganeered before they were overpowered by some MPs.
Around the same time, two other accused — Amol Shinde and Azad — allegedly sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting 'tanashahi nahi chalegi (dictatorship won't work)' outside Parliament premises.
The bail pleas were opposed by the prosecution which said during the preliminary inquiry, it was revealed that accused Azad and Shinde were associates of Sharma and Manoranjan.
All the accused — Azad, Kumawat, Manoranjan, Sharma, Shinde, and Lalit Jha, during the trial court proceedings admitted to knowing that a threat was given by designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu for targeting Parliament on December 13, 2023, the prosecution added.
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