The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to activist and former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Sen was arrested by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) in 2018 and was jailed for five-and-a-half years. A case against her was registered under the UAPA. The NIA alleges that Sen has links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) outfit.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and George Augustin Masih ordered her release on conditional bail. It said Sen cannot leave Maharashtra without the court's permission and should surrender her passport to the court.
The Supreme Court ruled that only one active phone number would be used to contact Sen and that number will be paired with the investigating officer's number.
Her GPS will remain active for 24 hours so that the investigating officer can track her location.
The bench observed that the prosecution could seek the cancellation of bail if the conditions were violated.
A case was registered in 2018 at Vishrambagh Police Station in Pune by a complainant, Tushar Damugade. According to Damugade, a programme called Elgar Parishad was held at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, where speakers, singers, and other performers from Kabir Kala Manch were present.
According to him, the performances were provocative in nature and had the effect of creating communal disharmony. The complainant stated the speeches delivered at the said event were also provocative.
The complaint also raised objections to the books that were kept for sale at the venue, which included a book on CPI (Maoist).
As a result, according to the prosecution, violence erupted at Bhima Koregaon in Pune on January 1, 2018, in which a person died, and several were injured.
