NIA Seeks Urgent Listing Of Petition Filed In Supreme Court Against Default Bail Granted To Sudha Bharadwaj

The National Investigation Agency on Monday sought the urgent listing of the petition filed by it challenging the Bombay High Court's order granting default bail to lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj in the Bhima Koregoan case.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta mentioned NIA's petition before the Chief Justice of India today morning.

"The order granting default bail will come into effect on (December) 8th, so I've to succeed or lose tomorrow. Defects are cleared. The petition is numbered", Solicitor General submitted.

"Let me see, give the number", CJI NV Ramana replied.

It was on December 1 that the Bombay High Court allowed Sudha Bharadwaj's plea for default bail based on a finding that the Additional Sessions Court, Pune, which extended the time for investigation in the case beyond 90 days, was not competent to do as as it was not notified as a Special Court under the NIA Act.

A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar directed that Bharadwaj be produced before the trial court on December 8 for completing the bail formalities.

The High Court however refused default bail to other 8 accused in the case, after observing that they had not applied for default bail when that right had accrued to them.

Bharadwaj was arrested in August 2018 in the case by the Maharashtra Police, which was then investigating the Bhima Koregaon case. The NIA took over the probe in January 2020. 

Case Title: NIA vs Sudha Bhardwaj 

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