SC rejects NIA's plea against Sudha Bharadwaj's default bail verdict

The plea challenging the Bombay High Court verdict granting default bail to political prisoner Sudha Bharadwaj was rejected by the Supreme Court today. Bharadwaj was arrested under UAPA for being associated with the Elgaar Parishad that allegedly incited violence in January 2018. She was granted a default bail on December 1 this year.

Mumbai:The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against the default bail granted to Sudha Bharadwaj by the Bombay High Court on December 1. The plea was rejected by a bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi.

The default bail granted earlier by the Bombay High Court was on the grounds that the cognizance of the initial charge-sheet filed against Sudha Bharadwaj in the Bhima Koregaon case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) wasn't heard by an authorised jurisdiction, and therefore stands null. The counsel argued that only a special court under the NIA Act was allowed to hear cases of those charged with offences under the UAPA.

In today's hearing, the judges emphasised the same thing quoting, "When special courts manned by special judges were in existence then why did you make this application for an extension before a magisterial court?" The SC, therefore, terminated the NIA's plea against the Bombay High Court's default bail verdict.

Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested in 2018 following the violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune on January 1 during the Elgar Parishad. The Elgar Parishad was allegedly associated with inflammatory speeches made at a conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial. The police had claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links.

Bharadwaj, a senior social activist, advocate and one of the accused political prisoners, had been in jail since 2018 under the UAPA, along with eight others, including Sudhir Dawale, advocate Surendra Gadling, Prof Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira. While she was released on default bail earlier this month, the rest of the prisoners could not procure bail and the trial of the case is yet to begin.