Bail for scribe booked under official secrets act

A local magistrate’s court on Saturday granted bail to a city-based journalist arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) under the Official Secrets Act.

A local magistrate’s court on Saturday granted bail to a city-based journalist arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) under the Official Secrets Act.

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Tarakant Dwivedi alias Akela, was arrested on May 18 for his article on how the weapons, purchased after the 26/11 terror attacks, were rotting in the armoury due to water leakage in monsoon. The court released Akela on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 accepting the defence argument of bail.

The journalist was earlier booked on charges of trespass and related non-bailable sections under the Official Secrets Act. It was for the first time that a journalist was arrested under the Official Secrets Act.

GRP commissioner Tukaram Chavan had told the Hindustan Times, “We had initially registered a case under Section 447 (punishment for criminal trespass) of the Indian Penal Code. However, after recording the statements of the concerned Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials, the investigating officer invoked Sections of the Officials Secret Act, 1923.”

Local scribes had registered a strong protest against Akela’s arrest and sought his immediate release. On June 28, 2010, Dwivedi reported about how weapons procured by the GRP and RPF officers were stored in a room with leakages at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus armoury of the RPF.
— With agency inputs.