Bhima Koregaon Bail : Supreme Court To Consider Hearing Jyoti Jagtap & Mahesh Raut Matters Together

On being apprised that challenge to the bail granted to co-accused Mahesh Raut is pending before another bench, the Supreme Court bench dealing with the bail plea of activist and Bhima Koregaon case accused Jyoti Jagtap asked the Registry today to obtain orders for conjoint hearing of the two cases.

The bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar was hearing Jagtap's challenge to the denial of regular bail by Bombay High Court, when it passed the order. "It is submitted that a connected appeal bearing Criminal Appeal No.3048/2023 has been filed by the [NIA]. The Registry is directed to take appropriate orders to post both the matters together", dictated Justice Sundresh.

Senior Advocate Mihir Desai, appearing for Jagtap, submitted before the Court that there are three main allegations against Jagtap - (i) that she was one of the core organizers of the Elgar Parishad event, (ii) that she participated in a skit, which was provocative, and (iii) that as per a witness statement, she had participated in an arms-training event in 2011.

He underscored that there are 285 witnesses and charge is yet to be framed. Further, this year, an order was passed by the Special Court noting that the matter is getting delayed due to the attitude of the prosecution. Desai also highlighted that Jagtap has been under custody for over four years, while out of the 16 persons arrested in the case, 1 has passed away and 7 are out on bail.

Interjecting however, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj pointed out that the National Investigation Agency's appeal against the bail granted to co-accused Mahesh Raut is pending before another bench of the Court. The ASG stated that Raut (booked under the same FIR) was granted bail by the High Court, but that order was stayed and as of today, NIA's appeal is pending.

Hearing the same, the bench of Justices Sundresh and Kumar thought it fit that both the matters be heard together. Insofar as the matter was listed for deciding on grant of interim bail, the bench also said that the same would not be considered. In response, it was clarified by Desai that Jagtap was not at all pressing for interim bail and was rather seeking final relief.

To recap, Jagtap has been lodged in jail since September 2020 for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 after being arrested in connection with the 2018 caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune, and for having alleged links with the proscribed far-left outfit, Communist Party of India (Maoists).

On July 15, the matter was listed for consideration of interim bail. However, the Supreme Court expressed that it was not inclined to grant interim bail to Jagtap. When Desai (appearing for Jagtap) clarified that the matter was erroneously listed as such and Jagtap was not seeking interim bail, the matter was adjourned.

In related news, another Bhima Koregaon case accused - activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha - was granted bail by the top Court on May 14, subject to the payment of Rs.20 lacs for his house arrest. Prior to that, on April 5, a bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih granted bail to former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, who was also booked under the UAPA for alleged Maoist links, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.

Background

Jyoti Jagtap, an activist and member of cultural organization 'Kala Kabir Manch', and 16 others was accused by the National Investigation Agency of being responsible for the caste violence at Bhima Koregaon in Pune.

The Pune police (and later NIA) contended that inflammatory speeches at Elgar Parishad – an event to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima – triggered the violent clashes that broke out between Maratha and Dalit groups near the village of Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra.

This led to the arrest of 16 activists for allegedly conspiring and planning the violence. They were charged with various provisions of the UAPA based on letters and emails primarily retrieved from their electronic devices.

In February, 2022, a special NIA court rejected Jagtap's bail application, which was later upheld by the Bombay High Court in October. While rejecting her application, a division bench of the high court observed that dialogues in Kabir Kala Manch's plays that ridiculed words/phrases like 'Ram Mandir', 'Gomutra', and 'Acche Din' – aimed at the democratically elected government – incited hatred and indicated a larger conspiracy. To quote the bench:

“There are a number of innuendos in the text, words, and performance of Kabir Kala Manch which are pointed directly against the democratically elected government, for seeking to overthrow the government, ridicule the government…Kabir Kala Manch admittedly performed and incited hatred and passion by performing on the above agenda in the Elgar Parishad event. There is thus definitely a larger conspiracy within the Elgar Parishad conspiracy by Kabir Kala Manch and Communist Party of India (Maoist).”

The High Court was of the view that NIA's contention regarding Jagtap having conspired, attempted, advocated and abated the commission of a terrorist act was prima facie true. “The Elgar Parishad event is thus a smaller conspiracy within the larger design and conspiracy of CPI (Maoist) to further its agenda…It is also seen that CPI (Maoist) has chalked out a detailed strategy for furtherance of its objective to overthrow the democratically elected government of our country and the Appellant and other co-accused are prima facie actively strategising the same,” it held.

Case Details: Jyoti Jagtap v. National Investigation Agency & Anr. | Criminal Appeal No. 2598 of 2023 

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