The Single Judge Bench of the Gujarat High Court, comprising Justice M R Mengdey in the case of Kalpeshkumar Babubhai Turi v. State of Gujarat has denied bail to Kalpesh Turi, a former technical officer at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The petitioner was charged of cyber terrorism under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly transmitting sensitive photographs related to ISRO's Space Applications Centre to a woman based in Pakistan.
Background of the Case
In the present case, the present applicant is alleged to have shared some confidential information about the nation to a lady, who was stationed outside the Indian territory in Pakistan. He has applied for the bail application in present case.
Submission of the Petitioner
The Counsel appearing on the behalf of the petitioner submitted that the information contained in those files were not secret, confidential and sensitive in nature, nor did the said information relate to safety, security and intellectual property of the country.
He further submitted that the applicant has a blotless career of 17 years with the department of Space, Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad. The present applicant was not aware that a lady with whom he was communicating was not stationed in India.
Submission of the Respondent
The application is opposed by learned APP inter alia contending that the present applicant had taken photographs of the premises of the Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad and had forwarded the same to a lady who was stationed in Pakistan. The information which was forwarded by the present applicant was sensitive in nature. He, therefore, submitted to dismiss the present application.
Reasoning and Decision of the Court
The Bench considered the submissions of the petitioner and APP and observed that the record indicates that the trial of the offence has commenced and several witnesses have already been examined by the prosecution. Therefore, there appears no change in circumstance after the filing of the earlier bail application.
Hence, the Court was of the view that if the entire communication is perused, it indicates that the files / images which were forwarded by the present applicant to a lady, who was stationed in Pakistan, were related to the Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad and these images were taken by the applicant without any authorization from the authorities of the Space Applications Centre, nor any permission in that regard had been sought by him.
Therefore, considering all these aspects, the Court held that no case is made out to exercise the discretion in favour of the applicant and the present Application is therefore dismissed.
Read Order @LatestLaws.com:
Picture Source : https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/ISRO_Pavilion_Interior_-_Sundarban_Kristi_Mela_O_Loko_Sanskriti_Utsab_-_Narayantala_-_South_24_Parganas_2015-12-23_7710.JPG