News Maharashtra SC grants bail to activist Shoma Kanti Sen in Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case

SC grants bail to activist Shoma Kanti Sen in Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been vehemently opposing the application filed by Professor Sen seeking temporary release for medical reasons.

Activist Shoma Kanti Sen Image Source : FILE PHOTOActivist Shoma Kanti Sen

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to activist Shoma Kanti Sen in Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. In its order, the top court directed that Sen shall not leave Maharashtra without leave of special court during the bail period.

The Supreme Court further said that Shoma Kanti Sen shall keep GPS of her mobile phone active round the clock during bail period and also inform the investigating officer about her place of stay.

Sen, an English literature professor and women's rights activist, was arrested in connection with the case on June 6, 2018.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts.

The Pune Police had claimed that the conclave was backed by Maoists.

The probe in the case, in which more than a dozen activists and academicians have been named as accused, was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The anti-terror agency NIA had argued before the Supreme Court that if Sen is released, it would become "a routine exercise and everybody will ask for medical bail."

In July last year, co-accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira were ordered to be released by top court on bail considering their 5-year term of incarceration as undertrial prisoners.

With inputs from PTI, IANS

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