New Delhi: The Delhi High Court granted bail Friday to freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma. He had been arrested in an espionage case under the Official Secrets Act. Rajeev Sharma has been accused of allegedly leaking sensitive information to Chinese intelligence.
Justice Yogesh Khanna granted the relief to Sharma on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 1,00,000 and a surety of the like amount. It has to be given by him within a week once the trial court resumes its normal functioning.
Sharma had sought statutory bail on the ground that the chargesheet was not filed within 60 days of his arrest. The trial court had held however that in this case, the charge sheet can be filed within 90 days.
The high court set aside the magisterial court’s order being ‘illegal’ and said that in this case, the period for filing charge sheet would be 60 days. “The petitioner is thus entitled to default bail; the challan having not been filed within 60 days,” Justice Khanna said.
Sharma, 61, was arrested September 14 by the Delhi Police Special Cell. They claimed that he was ‘found to be in possession of some defence-related classified documents’. Police also said that the other two accused in the case were paying Sharma large amounts of money, routed through shell companies.
While granting bail, the high court also directed Sharma to provide his contact number and address to the concerned police official. He was asked to keep location app on his mobile open at all time, and not to leave Delhi without seeking permission of the trial court.
The police had opposed the statutory bail plea on the grounds that the offence where there is no minimum punishment prescribed and the maximum punishment is more than 10 years, the charge sheet can be filed beyond 60 days but before 90 days from the date of arrest.
The high court noted that under the Official Secrets Act for which the journalist is being tried, entails punishment which may extend to 14 years but the section does not talk of the minimum period of sentence.