Delhi HC grants bail to journalist in espionage case

The Delhi high court on Friday granted bail to freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma, arrested in an espionage case under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking sensitive information to Chinese intelligence.

Justice Yogesh Khanna granted the relief to Sharma on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of the like amount, which shall 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 chargesheet 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 on September 14 by the Delhi Police Special Cell which has claimed that he was "found to be in possession of some defence-related classified documents".

It has claimed 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 and 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 chargesheet 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.

“As such the period of challan in this case would be 60 days and thus the impugned order passed by the metropolitan magistrate being illegal is set aside and the petition is allowed,” it said.

According to the petition, police had received information from Indian intelligence agencies to the effect that he was allegedly having links with Chinese intelligence officers and was receiving funds from his handler for conveying sensitive information having a bearing on national security and foreign relations.