Journo accused of abetting suicide of jawan gets bail

The Bombay High Court has granted anticipatory bail to a woman journalist booked for abetting the suicide of an army jawan and also under the Official Secrets Act after observing that prima facie no offence is made out against the accused.

Justice Revati Mohite Dere on April 26 granted anticipatory bail to Poonam Agarwal, a senior journalist with The Quint and retired soldier and war veteran Deepchand Singh.

Last month, the Deolali Camp police in Nashik registered a case against Poonam and Deepchand under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including abetment of suicide of the jawan from Kerala Roy Mathew. The scribe was also booked under sections 3 (spying) and 7 (interfering with officers of the police or members of the armed forces of Union) of the Official Secrets Act. The court also directed Poonam to surrender to the police raw footage of the sting operation.