New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday, June 21, allowed two weeks’ interim bail to activist Mahesh Raut, to attend the rituals following the death of his grandmother. Raut is an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
A bench led by Justice Vikram Nath and SVN Bhatti took note of the period of incarceration already undergone by Raut and also the nature of request made for the purpose.
“We are inclined to grant two weeks interim bail to the applicant (Raut) which may commence from June 26, 2024 and end on July 10, 2024," said the bench, also comprising Justice S V N Bhatti.
The apex court directed Raut to surrender without fail on July 10 and added that the terms and conditions of the release shall be determined by the special court. Raut had moved an application seeking interim bail to attend the rituals which are likely to be held on June 29-30 and July 5-6.
The bench said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would be at liberty to request the trial court to impose stringent conditions as may be necessary.
During the hearing, Raut’s counsel informed the bench that he was earlier granted bail by the Bombay High Court and the NIA moved the apex court challenging that order. The NIA’s counsel said his grandmother had passed away in May and asked, "What is the necessity to rush to this court?"
The bench observed that bail granted by the high court has been stayed by the apex court on NIA’s petition, therefore the petitioner would have to move the apex court to seek interim bail.
The case is regarding the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which according to the Pune Police was funded by Maoists. It is alleged that the inflammatory speeches made there led to violence at the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune the next day. The case was later probed by the NIA
In September last year, the apex court had extended the stay granted by the Bombay High Court on the implementation of its verdict granting bail to Raut.
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