All India Students' Association (AISA) president Neha Bora declared on Saturday that she will refuse to sign a peace bond before a special executive magistrate. Her statement comes a day after the Delhi High Court rejected her petition challenging a police notice that required her to submit a personal bond of Rs 10,000 along with one surety.
Challenging the premise of the directive, Bora questioned, “Whose peace am I being asked to keep?”
The police notice, issued on October 17 under Section 126 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), instructed the student leader to present herself before a Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) on October 19. It asked her to show cause as to why she should not be ordered to execute a personal bond of Rs 10,000 with one surety “for keeping peace for a period of inquiry”.
Also read: United in driving 'vote chors' out of power: Congress reviews preparations for INDIA bloc rally
Speaking to reporters at the CPI(ML) Liberation Parliamentary office, Bora asserted that street demonstrations are a democratic right and challenged the notion that criticizing the government constitutes a threat to public order.
“If we do not ask the government any questions, whose peace are we keeping?” she asked, maintaining that expressing dissent and holding power accountable are core tenets of a democratic system.
Bora emphasized that the protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, no matter its course, should not result in framing the right to dissent as a disruption of peace.
The notice was served on October 17, following her detention by Delhi Police a day earlier during the 'Lehra Do Tiranga' march in the national capital. The rally was part of ongoing demonstrations demanding Kumar's resignation over alleged flaws in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Bora had moved the High Court against the notice, calling the preventive action an effort to stifle peaceful protest and arguing that the notice failed to prove any probable breach of peace. She reiterated that democratic opposition and peaceful rallies should not be categorized as public order violations, urging that the right to dissent be safeguarded.