Elgar Parishad: Bail plea of activist Shoma Sen rejected in Pune court

The arrests were made in connection with an FIR lodged by realtor Tushar Damgude on January 8, 2018, alleging that inflammatory speeches were delivered during the Elgar Parishad which led to the riots at Bhima Koregaon in Pune district

Special judge KD Vadane under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) court rejected the bail plea of civil rights activist Prof Shoma Sen on Friday in Pune.

Shoma Sen (middle) accused in Koregao Bhima case, who had applied for bail was rejected by special judge KD Vadane on Friday. (Sanket Wankhade/HT PHOTO)

Vadane, in his order, said Sen’s name had emerged in the investigations into the alleged involvement of Maoists in the Bhima Koregaon violence that took place in the aftermath of the Elgar Parishad rally in Pune on December 31, 2017. The bail of civil rights activist advocate Surendra Gadling, also held in the same case by the Pune Police, will come up for hearing today.

Advocate Amit Deshmukh, representing the former University of Nagpur professor Sen, told the Pune sessions court that she had suffered from hyperglaucoma due to which she needed to be released on bail.Deshmukh, in his argument spoke of “an undeclared emergency in the country” under which the police could frame any person with dissenting views. He termed it as “thought policing”.

“The draconian sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) are enough to put a person in jail, merely on the basis of suspicion, for a lifetime without bail. Hence, there is a need to accept her (Sen) application on medical grounds,” Deshmukh told the court.

Sen along with Nagpur-based lawyer Surendra Gadling and other activists such as Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut were arrested for their alleged Maoist links on June 6. All the arrested accused are currently lodged in Yerawada Central Jail.

Three other activists, Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, are currently in police custody till November 6.

The arrests were made in connection with an FIR lodged by realtor Tushar Damgude on January 8, 2018, alleging that inflammatory speeches were delivered during the Elgar Parishad which led to the riots at Bhima Koregaon in Pune district.