Court asks Kerala police to explain crime of Swiss national who attended Maoist meet
While hearing the petition of Swiss national Jonathan Baud, seeking
to quash the FIR registered against him on charges of attending a
meeting to commemorate a suspected Maoist leader in July, the Kerala
High Court said the police could not explain the crime committed by the
Swiss national. Directing the state government to explain which
condition of the visa regulations Baud had violated, Justice P Ubaid
posted the petition for Tuesday.
Baud, a student of International Economic History at Paul Bairoch
Institute of Economic History in Geneva, was arrested from Triprayar in
Thrissur on July 28 after he attended a public meeting held to
commemorate Maoist leader Sinoj. He had introduced himself in the
meeting after the audience turned curious about the presence of a
foreigner. As police couldn’t establish Maoist links, Baud was charged
under Section 14 (b) of the Foreigners Act, which pertains to any act in
violation of the conditions of the valid visa issued for entry and stay
in India. Later, he was released on bail, but could not return to his
native country as the case was pending in the court.
Subsequently, Baud has been fighting in the court to get the FIR
quashed and file a closure report on his pending case. During several
hearings, the court had asked the police to submit details about the
case, including the Malayalam translation of his speech and its audio
CD. After examining them, the judge on Monday observed that there was
nothing objectionable in the speech that demands framing of the offence
under section 14 (b) of the foreigners act.
The court asked the police explain what visa condition Baud had
violated to attract the stated offence. The court directed the
government to explain which visa condition Baud had violated while
attending the meeting as a curious student of politics.
No comments:
Post a Comment