Controversy: On Sudha Bharadwaj’s bail and NIA’s appeal

In filing expeditious appeal against statutory grant Lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj gets bail, the NIA has shown nothing but bickering and pettiness on a well thought out order of the Bombay High Court. The bail order itself is a much-delayed relief, given that the right to ‘default bail’ was granted to him in early January 2019, after completing 90 days in jail and when there was neither a charge sheet nor a legal order. was about to expand. The deadline for filing it is 90 to 180 days. The High Court is right in concluding that the Court of Session had no jurisdiction to grant such extension, and subsequently takes cognizance of the charge sheet filed in February 2019, when a duly constituted Special Court under the NIA Act Already working in Pune. Further, the court has given the benefit of default bail – an inalienable right under section 167(2) CrPC that arises when the investigating agency fails to submit its final report within the prescribed period – only to Ms. Bhardwaj, Only in his form the application was pending at that time; While eight others did not specifically seek bail on that ground, even though they had questioned the legality of the manner in which the court took cognizance of the case against them. On this, the case law supports the view that if one fails to take statutory bail at a reasonable time, and subsequently the charge sheet is laid, the right of default bail ceases to exist.

The NIA’s appeal exemplifies the draconian approach of the central government in prosecuting the Bhima Koregaon case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on suspected grounds of some violent incidents that took place after the Elgar Parishad incident on December 31. , 2017, were part of a sinister Maoist conspiracy. A local inquiry was converted into an anti-terrorism probe against the attack on a memorial function organized by Dalits. After convincing the Supreme Court that this was not a case of suppression of political dissent, the Center scrutinized vigorously, and denied bail to all – to grant temporary relief on medical grounds to Telugu poet-activist Varavara Rao. There is also no sign of a preliminary test. One of those arrested, Father Stan Swamy, succumbed to serious illness caused by prison conditions. There are reports that some of the alleged evidence in this case may have been mounted remotely on their devices. It is unfortunate that courts seem to be considering bail only on medical grounds and on the ground of default in this one case. It is time he examined the merits behind the wider claims in the chargesheet and also took note of the Supreme Court judgments that have granted bail even under UAPA if the trial is not likely to be completed in the near future.