Elgar Parishad Case: SC Grants Bail to Activist Shoma Kanti Sen

The Supreme Court granted bail to Shoma Kanti Sen on Friday, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

A bench comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih directed that, among other conditions, Sen must not leave the state of Maharashtra without the permission of the special court.

The court further asserted that she must inform the NIA’s investigating officer regarding the address where she will reside during the bail period.

The bench stated that Sen must also maintain the GPS of her mobile phone active round the clock.

Sen, a professor of English literature and a women’s rights activist, was apprehended in connection with the case on June 6, 2018.

The case pertains to purportedly inflammatory speeches given at the Elgar Parishad conclave organized at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which authorities asserted incited violence the following day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial situated on the outskirts of the city.

The Pune Police had alleged that the conclave was supported by Maoists. The investigation in the case, involving more than a dozen activists and academicians named as accused, was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).