Elgar Parishad Cash: SC Adjourns Hearing On Activist Jyoti Jagtap’s Plea Against HC Order

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned a plea for 4 weeks moved by Left activist Jyoti Jagtap, arrested in the Elgar Parishad Cash case, challenging a Bombay High Court order denying her bail.

Jagtap has moved the apex court challenging the October 17, 2022 order of the high court that refused to grant her bail, stating the National Investigation Agency’s case against her was “prima facie true” and that she was part of a “larger conspiracy” hatched by the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit.

A bench comprising of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi deferred the matter after advocate Aparna Bhat, appearing in the court on behalf of Jagtap, sought time to file a rejoinder to NIA affidavit. The top court granted 3 weeks to Jagtap to file her rejoinder.

Previously on July 28, a Bench headed by Justice Bose granted bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, noting that they were in custody for 5 years. The top court on May 4, sought the responses of the Maharashtra government and NIA on Jagtap’s plea against the high court order.

The high court stated that Jagtap was an active member of the Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) group, which during its stage play at the “Elgar Parishad” conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017 gave not only “aggressive, but highly provocative slogans”.

The court stated, “We are of the considered opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing the allegations or accusations of the NIA against the appellant (Jagtap) having conspired, attempted, advocated and abetted the commission of a terrorist act as prima facie true.”

According to the NIA, the KKM is a front organisation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The high court then dismissed the appeal filed by the activist-cum-singer challenging a February 2022 order of a special court denying her bail. The 2017 Elgar Parishad conclave was held at Shaniwarwada, an 18th-century palace-fort located in tin Pune city’s heartcused of singing and raising provocative slogans at the conclave along with other KKM members, was got arrested in September 2020 and has been lodged at the Byculla women’s prison in Mumbai since then.

As per the investigators, provocative speeches that were allegedly made at the conclave triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima on the outskirts of Pune on January 1, 2018.