Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted bail to two accused in the December 2023 Parliament security breach case on the condition that they won’t give interviews to the media or post anything related to the incident on social media platforms.

A bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar granted bail to Neelam Azad and Mahesh Kumawat, directing them not to leave Delhi without permission and to appear before Delhi Police, who are probing the case, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The court also directed the accused to furnish a personal bond of ₹50,000 each.

Azad and Kumawat, who had challenged a trial court order rejecting their bail pleas, are the first among the six accused to get bail. The other four — Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D, Amol Shinde and Lalit Jha —are still in jail.

On December 13, 2023, Sharma and Manoranjan had allegedly jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted slogans before they were overpowered by some MPs.

Azad and Shinde were protesting outside Parliament and had allegedly sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting “tanashahi nahi chalegi (dictatorship won’t work)”.

The security breach coincided with the date when Parliament was attacked in 2001. Delhi Police had opposed the bail applications, alleging that the accused intended to bring back "haunted memories" of the 2001 Parliament attack.

Four of the accused, including Azad, were arrested immediately after the incident. Jha and Kumawat were picked up later.

The accused were booked under the provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. They were accused of conspiring to commit a terrorist act to strike fear in the minds of parliamentarians, staff and visitors and those who were watching the live proceedings of the House on television.

Earlier in the bail hearing, the high court had questioned the police for booking the accused under terror laws, observing that smoke canisters were not dangerous and were used in celebrations. Opposing the bail plea, the police had told the court that the accused wanted to bring back “haunted memories” of the 2001 Parliament attack.