After three years in jail in Elgar Parishad case, activist Sudha Bharadwaj to walk free

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj, who had been accused of being part of a conspiracy to overthrow the Union government, will now walk out of jail on December 8 or 9, after submitting a cash bond of ₹ 50,000 with one or more sureties. She had been incarcerated for three years after being arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case along with  other activists and academicians.

On Wednesday, a special NIA court ruled that Bharadwaj can be released from jail after she submits the cash surety. Currently lodged at the Byculla prison in Mumbai, she could be freed either on Wednesday (December 8) or Thursday (December 9), said media reports..

The special court has laid down other conditions imposing restrictions on her movements stating that she has to reside within the jurisdiction of the court and cannot leave Mumbai without its permission, said a News18 report.

Also read: Bombay HC grants bail to Sudha Bharadwaj in Bhima Koregaon case

This ruling comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s rejection of a petition filed by the NIA challenging a Bombay High Court order on her bail.

Meanwhile, the high court in its December 1 order had said that Bharadwaj was entitled to bail. Denying her bail would be a breach of her fundamental right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, said the order.  A bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar had directed that Bharadwaj be produced before the special NIA court in the city, that will decide the conditions to be imposed on her bail and finalise her release from the Byculla women’s prison.

Among the others arrested in this case, poet-activist Varavara Rao has been released on medical bail, while Jesuit priest Stan Swamy died in a private hospital on July 5 this year while waiting for medical bail.

The high court had rejected the default bail plea filed by eight other co-accused in the case – Sudhir Dhawale, Varavara Rao, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira and they are still in jail.

The 16 activists and academicians were arrested by the Pune police for allegedly making inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017. This had led to violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city’s outskirts, alleged the police. The case was subsequently moved to NIA.