India News | Elgar Parishad Case: Bombay HC Asks Accused Shoma Sen to Approach Special Court for Bail

Mumbai, Jan 17 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed activist Shoma Sen, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case currently in judicial custody, to approach the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court for bail.

A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and P D Naik disposed of Sen's plea in the HC seeking bail and directed her to file a bail application in the special court, noting the trial court didn't have a chance to consider the plea post the filing of a chargesheet.

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The bench directed Sen to approach the special court so that the (special) court can consider the supplementary chargesheet.

In the event of the court rejecting her bail plea, then the HC can take benefit of the observations of the lower court on the charge sheet, the bench said.

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The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held at Shaniwarwada in Pune city on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts. The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists.

The probe in the case, in which more than a dozen activists and academicians have been named as accused, was later transferred to the NIA.

Sen, an English literature professor and Dalit and women's rights activist, was arrested on June 6, 2018. She is currently in judicial custody.

She had applied for bail in the Pune sessions court in December 2018 before the chargesheet was filed. She moved a separate application after the chargesheet was filed.

Both applications were rejected by the sessions court through a common order dated November 2019.

After the investigation into the case was transferred to the NIA and the trial to the special NIA court, Sen approached the HC in 2020 seeking a default bail. Her plea was rejected in 2022 following which she filed a petition in the HC seeking regular bail.

The HC bench on Tuesday noted the special NIA court did not have a chance to consider Sen's application after the chargesheet was filed in the case. In her plea, Sen had claimed she had been implicated in the case.

She further said the letters and communications allegedly containing incriminating material against the accused in the case were neither in her possession, nor addressed to her, or by her. Merely because the name 'Shoma Sen' is mentioned in any of these so-called electronic letters (it) cannot be a reasonable ground to deny bail to the applicant (Sen), her plea stated. The accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case have been charged with waging a war against the nation, being active members of the banned terror outfit CPI (Maoist), criminal conspiracy and indulging in acts with an intent to strike terror in the minds of people using explosive substances.

The NIA in draft charges sought to charge the 15 accused under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)