Gujarat High Court Rejects Second Bail Plea Of Ex-ISRO Officer Booked For Sending Space Centre Photos To Pakistan-Based Woman

Justice MR Mengdey presiding over the case denied Turi's bail for the second time noting that 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.”

“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,” the Court added.

Arguing on behalf of Turi, senior advocate Shalin Mehta submitted that the information in the files shared by Turi was not secret, confidential, or sensitive in nature, nor did it pertain to the safety, security, or intellectual property of the country. Mehta further stated that Turi was unaware that the woman in question was not located in India. He argued that Turi only forwarded workplace selfies.

The prosecution, however, contested these claims, asserting that the photographs depicted the ISRO SAC premises in Ahmedabad.

Notably, Turi was arrested in January by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in Ahmedabad. At the time, he was serving as an antenna mechanical engineer SAC unit of ISRO in Ahmedabad, where he had been employed since 2012.

On January 7, the ATS filed a FIR against Turi, charging him with cyber terrorism under Section 66 F(1)(B) of the Information Technology Act.

Case Title: Kalpeshkumar Babubhai Turi v. State of Gujarat

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Guj) 78

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