Parliament security breach: What connection accused have with freedom fighter Bhagat Singh?

NEW DELHI: Investigations into the December 13 Parliament security breach incident gains momentum, intriguing details have come to the fore.

The Parliament security breach incident was planned and carried out by a group comprising six unemployed individuals.

Out of the six individuals, two had entered into the Parliament building, jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from a visitors’ gallery and released a yellowish smoke.

On the other hand, two other individuals protested against the BJP-led central government outside the Parliament building by releasing similar kind of smoke.

All the four individuals were arrested almost immediately after they carried out the act.

The four individuals are: Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D (arrested from inside Parliament building); Amol Shinde and Neelam Devi (protested outside Parliament building).

Moreover, another individual, identified as Vishal Sharma, along with his wife were detained from Gurugram region for allegedly providing shelter to the other accused.

Meanwhile, the sixth accused, identified as Lalit Jha – considered to be the mastermind of the Parliament security breach – is still on the run.

A case has been under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 452 (trespass), 153 (wantonly giving provocation, with intent to cause riot), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and UAPA sections 16 and 18 at the Parliament Street police station.

Parliament Security Breach: What is the Bhagat Singh connection with accused?

According to reports, all of the six accused were associated with a social media page named – “Bhagat Singh Fan Club”.

“Everyone met in Mysore about one and a half years ago. Sagar came from Lucknow in July but could not enter the Parliament House. On December 10, one by one, everyone reached Delhi from their respective states. They gathered near India Gate, where coloured crackers were distributed to everyone,” sources were quoted as saying by Mint.

Sagar and Amol shouted slogans of “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Bhagat Singh Amar Rahe” while throwing the canisters in the Parliament.

In an Instagram post before the Parliament security breach, Sagar wrote: “Jeete ya hare, par koshish to zaruri hai (Making an effort is important whether you win or lose).”

“Dreams are beautiful if there is beauty in life. They serve as a constant reminder of why we are here, day or night. Life is meaningless without dreams, and giving up on your dreams is even more pointless,” he wrote in another post in Hindi.

Similarly, Neelam Devi on November 11 on X wrote: “There ought to be a 50% reservation for women in the Legislative Assembly and Parliament. Why not the Legislative Assembly and Parliament have a 50% female reservation, as is the case in Haryana's Gram Panchayats?”

The social media profiles of Neelam and Sagar reflected that both show their admiration towards freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru.

Manoranjan D, one of the two intruders who jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors' gallery on Wednesday, was associated with a social media page called 'Bhagat Singh Fan Club' and wanted to replicate Bhagat Singh's act of throwing bomb into the Central Assembly, police said.

ABOUT BHAGAT SINGH

Bhagat Singh was a charismatic Indian revolutionary, who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in what was to be retaliation for the death of freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai.

He later took part in a largely symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and a hunger strike in jail, which—on the back of sympathetic coverage in Indian-owned newspapers—turned him into a household name in the Punjab region, and after his execution at age 23 into a martyr and folk hero in Northern India.