Special NIA Court Rejects Professor Shoma Sen's Interim Medical Bail Plea In Bhima Koregaon - Elgar Parishad Case

Special Judge DE Kothalikar said, "The prison authority shall observe medical protocol and provide appropriate medical aid to the applicant (Sen) if required."

In an application through her lawyers Sharif Shaikh and Kritika Agarwal, Sen pointed out that she suffered from hypertension, blood pressure and other ailments, making her vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus.

She relied on guidelines issued by the High Power Committee on releasing certain persons from prison.

Special Public Prosecutor Prakash Shetty for NIA opposed the application. He submitted that similar pleas filed by other accused have been rejected. Moreover, Covid-19 cannot be used as a ground for release anymore.

However, Shaikh said that the HPC's guidelines continue to operate, therefore they were entitled to claim appropriate reliefs.

The special court then went on to reject the application.

Meanwhile, the court has extended co-accused researcher Rona Wilson's interim bail by three days. The court had allowed Wilson's plea for emergency bail for two weeks following his father's demise in August.

He sought a three-day extension as he was released late from prison. The NIA did not oppose his plea. Following this, the court said that Wilson could return to jail on September 30, instead of September 27.

Lastly, the court rejected an application filed by accused Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu and Sudha Bharadwaj seeking a copy of draft charges submitted by NIA.

Fifteen civil liberties activists and academics are incarcerated, facing charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) based on letters primarily retrieved from two of them claiming a conspiracy to overthrow the government in furtherance of the banned CPI(Maoist) agenda.

The accused have maintained that the electronic evidence was planted on their devices.

It's the NIA's case that the caste violence at the Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018, in which mainly dalits were attacked, was a result of the Elgaar Parishad event organised the previous day by front organisations CPI(M) Maharashtra.