Justice Subramonium Prasad suggested to the state if it can “hold its horses” if he pronounced the verdict on Tuesday. The state, through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma, insisted that it is amenable to the proposition if Neha “gives an undertaking to this court that she will not breach peace”.

The court ultimately reserved the verdict for Friday.

He said the notice was issued under BNSS section 126 (magistrate’s power to require a person to execute a bond for keeping peace) and 130 (which requires executive magistrate to pass a written order directing a person to show cause for order under BNSS 126).

Sankaranarayanan further argued, “Even for an interim bond, an inquiry is essential. The magistrate could not have birthed the idea of a personal bond until an inquiry was completed… As a recipient of a notice like this, how am I supposed to respond to this: that they ‘apprehend me of breaching peace’.…