Bhima Koregaon | Does Jyoti Jagtap's Case Fit 'Formula' in Which Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira Were Granted Bail? Supreme Court Asks

On an earlier occasion, in July, a bench led by Justice Bose had postponed Jagtap’s bail hearing. The reason cited was that the verdicts on Gonsalves' and Ferreira's bail pleas were anticipated to be delivered shortly. The bench also allowed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the State of Maharashtra to file their counter-affidavits within three weeks.

Later in the month, Gonsalves and Ferreira were granted bail by the Supreme Court after almost five years in custody. Justice Bose, along with Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, besides taking into consideration the length of incarceration, also held that the seriousness of the allegations alone could not be a ground to deny bail and justify their continued detention.

Today, during the brief courtroom exchange, Justice Bose remarked, "There is a formula in which we have decided the other two. The question is whether this fits in that formula or not."

The bench adjourned the hearing until September at the behest of the NIA, which requested two weeks' time to grant a counter-affidavit. The bench decided to grant leave in the matter before adjourning it. "Leave granted. List on September 21. Let the respondent (NIA) file an additional affidavit incorporating therein entire pleadings of the high court," the bench pronounced.

At this juncture, Advocate Aparna Bhat, appearing for Jagtap, requested the bench to direct the NIA to file their affidavit within the next two weeks. "If they file at the last minute like they have been doing, I'll have no time to respond. I would like to place on record additional docs if they miss anything out," the counsel said.

Acceding to this request, Justice Bose added to the order he orally dictated, "Additional affidavit to be filed by September 14."

Background

Jyoti Jagtap, an activist and member of cultural organisation ‘Kala Kabir Manch’, and 16 others, including Gonsalves and Ferreira, have been accused by the National Investigation Agency of being responsible for the caste violence at Bhima Koregaon in Pune, although one of them – Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy passed away in July 2021.

The Pune police and later, the 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 16 activists being arrested for allegedly conspiring and planning the violence and charged with various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act based on letters and emails primarily retrieved from their electronic devices.

In February of last year, 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 comprising Justices AS Gadkari and Milind Jadhav held that dialogues in Kabir Kala Manch’s plays that ridiculed phrases like ‘Ram Mandir’, ‘Gomutra’, and ‘Acche Din’ – aimed at the democratically elected government – incited hatred and indicated a larger conspiracy. The bench held:

“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).”

Therefore, the court held that the National Investigation Agency’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 (M) to further its agenda…It is also seen that CPI (M) 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,” the bench held.

Case Details

Jyoti Jagtap v. National Investigation Agency & Anr. | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 5997 of 2023