Supreme Court grants bail to Shoma Kanti Sen
The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to activist Shoma Kanti Sen in the Elgar Parishad case. In 2018, a case was registered against her under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 (UAPA) for alleged Maoist links. The top court has put many difficult conditions while granting her bail. The first condition is that she cannot leave Maharashtra without informing the court, and she will also have to surrender her passport.
Her release on conditional bail was mandated by a bench consisting of Justices Aniruddha Bose and George Augustin Masih. It stated that Sen had to give up her passport to the court and that she could not travel to Maharashtra without it.
Conditions laid by Supreme Court
The conditions laid down by the Supreme Court while granting bail are as follows:
1. Shoma Sen will not leave Maharashtra
2. She will have to surrender her passport,
3. She will have to inform the NIA about her residence,
4. She will have to inform the NIA officer about her mobile number and keep that number active and charged.
5. Sen can only be reached at one working phone number, which will be paired with the investigating officer’s number.
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The Elgar Parishad Case
Tushar Damugade, the complainant, filed a complaint at the Vishrambagh Police Station in Pune in 2018. Damugade claims that on December 31, 2017, speakers, singers, and other performers from Kabir Kala Manch participated in a program named Elgar Parishad at Shaniwar Wada in Pune.
He claimed that the provocative tone of the performances led to a rift within the community. The complaint claimed that aggressive speeches were also made at the aforementioned event. The books that were available for purchase at the location, including one on the CPI (Maoist), were also criticized in the complaint.
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Shoma Sen is a professor of English. Soma Sen has been in jail for 5 and a half years. He was arrested by the NIA after the caste violence that broke out in Bhima Koregaon, Pune. Sen is in jail since 2018. A case was registered against Shoma Sen under the UAPA Act. The investigating agency says that Shoma has connections with CPI (Maoist).
As a result, the prosecution claims, on January 1, 2018, there was a violent outburst in Pune’s Bhima Koregaon that left one person dead and numerous others injured.
