NEW DELHI: An Indian academic detained for almost six years without trial has been granted bail by the Supreme Court, highlighting the country’s use of harsh anti-terror laws decried by rights activists.
Shoma Sen, 66, a former professor of English at Nagpur University, was arrested in 2018.
She was one of 16 activists and academics held for allegedly inciting violence between different Indian caste groups, among them a Jesuit priest, Stan Swamy, who died in pre-trial detention three years later at the age of 84.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), the country’s top anti-terror agency, also claimed that Sen and some of the other activists had links with far-left Maoist insurgents.
New Delhi has been battling armed Maoist rebels, known locally as Naxals, for decades in dense, tribal-dominated forests of central and eastern India. “At present, the appellant has been in detention for almost six years, her age is over 66 years and charges have not yet been framed,” the two-judge bench said on Friday.
“If we examine the acts attributed to the appellant by the various witnesses or as inferred from the evidence... we do not find prima facie commission or attempt to commit any terrorist act” by Sen, the court added. Another sexagenarian activist detained in the same case, Sudha Bharadwaj, was released by the Mumbai High Court in 2021.
Sen, like Bharadwaj and Swamy, was held under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which allows indefinite detention without trial.
Critics say the law — which makes it difficult for accused people to receive bail — has been used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to silence dissent.
Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2024
Bhima Koregaon Case: After 6 Years in Jail, Activist Shoma Sen Granted Bail by SC
Image Courtesy: Twitter Amnesty India @AIIndia
New Delhi: Former Nagpur University professor, Dalit and women’s rights activist Shoma Sen, 62, was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Friday in the Bhima Koregaon case. Sen served six years in prison after she was arrested in June 2018 for alleged Maoist links and was booked under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Her trial was yet to begin.
Sen was granted bail after a bench of Justices Anirudhha Bose and Augustine George Masih noted that the National Investigating Agency (NIA) did not oppose her bail, and hence “the stringent conditions for bail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) would not apply,” a Bar & Bench report said.
"Section 43(D)(5) restriction should not apply to the petitioner. We have noted that Additional Solicitor General (who appeared for NIA) stated custody is no longer needed. Once we hold that 43(d)(5) of the 1967 act does not apply.... We have seen she is of advanced age and the effect of delaying trial at this stage.. in addition to her medical conditions. She should not be denied the privilege of being released on bail," the Court said in its order, as quoted by Bar & Bench.
Sen is the sixth among the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case. The other activists, academics, lawyers who got bail are Sudha Bhardwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferriera, and Varavara Rao (on medical grounds).
The English professor was arrested by the Pune Police under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the UAPA, along with human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling, activist, actor, and publisher Sudhir Dhawale, activist Mahesh Raut, and activist and researcher Rona Wilson, for their alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon violence.
While granting bail to Sen, the SC laid down certain conditions, such as she would not leave Maharashtra, surrender her passport, inform NIA about her residence and mobile number that should be active.
Before approaching the Supreme Court, Sen had applied for bail in the Pune sessions court and then in the Bombay High Court, which had rejected it.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, the Counsel for Sen, had denied all the charges and also said there was lack of evidence for connecting her to the UAPA case as well as her alleged links with the Communist Party of India (Maoist). He also mentioned her advancing age, ill health and prolonged jail term in Byculla.
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