Gujarat High Court denies bail to ex-ISRO officer accused of sending pictures to woman in Pakistan

The Gujarat High Court on Monday refused to grant bail to a former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) technical officer who had allegedly shared confidential information with a woman in Pakistan [Kalpeshkumar Babubhai Turi v. State of Gujarat]..Justice MR Mengdey said the images alleged to have been forwarded by accused Kalpesh Turi to the woman in Pakistan related to ISRO's Space Applications Centre at Ahmedabad and were taken by him without any authorisation from the authorities.The Court also found that Turi had last year withdrawn his bail plea with the liberty to file a fresh plea after six months in case of delay in trial."The record indicates that the trial of the offence has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," it observed..Turi was booked and arrested by Ahmedabad's Anti-Terrorism Police Station last year under Section 66 F(1)(B) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 for alleged cyber terrorism.Senior Advocate Shalin Mehta, representing Turi, prayed for his release and placed reliance on a communication by the Space Applications Centre to the Investigating Officer as per which the information allegedly shared by him was not secret, confidential and sensitive in nature, nor did it relate to safety, security and intellectual property of the country. It was further argued that Turi had a "blotless career of 17 years" with ISRO and he was not aware that the woman concerned was not stationed in India but in Pakistan. "The applicant had merely forwarded the photographs, which were selfies taken by him at his work place. Except this, no other information, whatsoever, had been forwarded by the applicant to that lady," Mehta told the CourtHowever, Additional Public Prosecutor JK Shah argued that the photos shared by Turi were of the ISRO premises in Ahmedabad. The information which was forwarded by him was sensitive in nature, the prosecution argued..Considering the submissions and material on record, the Court noted that the communication issued by the Space Applications Centre to the investigating officer and relied upon by the counsel representing accused, was earlier also available when Turi's earlier bail application was withdrawn."This material would obviously be placed before the trial court and trial court would consider it in light of the other material available on record. Therefore, it would not be proper for this court to observe anything in this regard since trial is already in progress," it added.Taking note of the progress in trial and the allegation that the pictures were taken without any authorisation, the Court said no case is made out to exercise discretion in Turi's favour..Senior Advocate Shalin Mehta with advocates Vicky B Meta and Palak G Jadeja represented the accused.Advocate JK Shah represented the prosecution..[Read Order]