‘We don’t need permission to hoist national flag’: AISA chief Neha Bora to Delhi HC

On Thursday, All India Students' Association (AISA) president Neha Bora challenged a Delhi Police notice in the Delhi High Court. The notice required her to execute a "peace" bond before a special executive magistrate, a demand she disputed by asserting that citizens do not require permission to display the national flag.

Her defense brought up the Delhi Police notice, which alleged that she had raised the national flag without prior clearance.

"Question is does this (notice) have substance? We don't need permission to hoist the national flag. They need a class on law," senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Bora, contended before Justice Subramonium Prasad.


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Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Delhi Police, questioned the maintainability of Bora's petition.

Bora, a prominent figure in demonstrations concerning alleged irregularities in the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, is seeking to quash the notice and wants the court to direct the police to refrain from taking coercive action against her.

Issued on October 17 under Section 126 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the notice instructed the student leader to present herself before the SEM (special executive magistrate) on October 19. She was asked to demonstrate why she should not sign a personal bond of Rs 10,000 with a surety "for keeping peace for a period of enquiry".

Section 126 authorizes the SEM to require such bonds if there is reliable information suggesting an individual might breach the peace, disrupt public order, or commit an act likely to cause a disturbance.

Bora had been taken into preventive custody on October 16 while heading to participate in the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) 'Lehra Do Tiranga' rally. She was subsequently released on October 17.