Elgar Parishad case: Shoma Sen applies for discharge

Human rights activist Shoma Sen, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, on Tuesday filed a discharge plea in the special NIA court, claiming that the letters seized from her co-accused Rona Wilson’s computer did not indicate that they were authored by, or addressed to any member of the proscribed CPI (Maoist)

Human rights activist Shoma Sen, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, on Tuesday filed a discharge plea in the special NIA court, claiming that the letters seized from her co-accused Rona Wilson’s computer did not indicate that they were authored by, or addressed to any member of the proscribed CPI (Maoist).

HT Image

NIA (National Investigation Agency), which took over the probe from Pune police, has cited these letters as key evidence to show conspiracy, and membership of the accused in the banned outfit.

According to the prosecution, the letters referred to a monetary transaction where Sen was supposed to have received funds from another accused, Surendra Gadling.

Sen has, however, claimed that there is no corroboration in the entire charge-sheet to prima facie show that she received funds from or through any of the alleged sources.

In her discharge plea, filed through advocate Sharif Shaikh, Sen claimed “there is nothing to corroborate such a claim. Nothing is recovered from the applicant that suggests that she received such a fund. The author of the chit is unknown.”

“There is no proof that the name ‘Shoma’ in any of the so-called electronic letters/communications refers to the applicant,” the plea said.

Sen claimed that she had been targeted for her work. “Applicant is well known for her commitment as an activist for the rights of women, Dalits and other marginalised communities and it is this active role played by the applicant since her student days for the last 40 years that is being targeted by the respondent with her illegal implication and arrest,” the discharge plea said.

She further contended that “the mere mention of the name of a lawful and registered organisation/society with a lawful and legal object such as ‘Anuradha Gandhy Memorial Committee’ or an acronym of the same in unverified, unidentifiable and dubious letters cannot be the grounds to brand such an organisation as a front organisation of the proscribed CPI (Maoist).”

“There is a selective and prejudicial targeting of the applicant and other accused although the so-called letters mention the names of a number of political leaders and public figures who are allegedly claimed to be associated with the author of the said letters,” Sen said.