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NIA court orders Bharadwaj’s release on ₹50,000 cash surety
Sudha Bharadwaj on Wednesday appeared before special NIA judge Dinesh Kothalikar, who ordered her release on a personal bond of ₹50,000.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Wednesday ordered activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case, be released from jail after furnishing a surety amount of ₹50,000.
Special NIA judge Dinesh Kothalikar rejected the 60-year-old activist’s plea to let her stay in Chhattisgarh and Delhi, where she worked before, and prohibited her from leaving the jurisdiction of the special NIA court in Mumbai, also ordering her to surrender her passport.
The court restrained her from speaking to the media on the case though her counsel, advocate Yug Chaudhry, opposed the condition and said it was “an infringement of her freedom of speech”.
The court allowed her plea for furnishing a cash bond of ₹50,000 for three months, so as to enable her to arrange sureties.
“We have completed all formalities by Wednesday evening around 6.30 pm and have even dropped her released bond in the bail box at Byculla Women’s prison. The box will be opened on Thursday morning around 5 am so Bharadwaj should walk out of jail on Thursday,” said Chandni Chawla, counsel for Bharadwaj.
Bharadwaj, who was arrested in 2018, is currently at the Byculla women’s prison in Mumbai
The development came a day after the Supreme Court dismissed the NIA’s petition against the bail granted by the Bombay high court to Bharadwaj, who is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for allegedly participating in a purported Maoist conspiracy to trigger violence on January 1, 2018, in Maharashtra’s Bhima Koregaon village.
On December 1, the Bombay HC allowed default bail to Bharadwaj, underlining that a Pune sessions judge, who granted police a 90-day extension on November 26, 2018, to file the charge sheet, did not have jurisdiction to do so as only a special NIA court could hear UAPA cases. The HC pointed out that the Pune sessions court was not notified as a special court under the NIA Act. Also, there was already a special NIA court in existence in Pune at the relevant time, it had noted.
On Tuesday, an apex court bench, headed by justice Uday U Lalit, held that there was no infirmity in the December 1 high court order granting default bail on account of the legal lacuna in investigating agency’s seeking time beyond 90 days in filing a charge sheet in the case.
Bharadwaj is the first person in the high-profile case to be granted default bail. The high court rejected the bail applications of eight co-accused, all of whom face terrorism and conspiracy charges under the UAPA.
One of the other accused, poet Varavara Rao, is out on medical bail, and a second accused, Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, died in July.
The activists are accused of delivering inflammatory speeches during an event called Elgar Parishad organised in Pune on December 31, 2017. The activists have denied all charges and accused the prosecution of planting evidence.
