The Supreme Court on Thursday stated that the bail plea of activist Jyoti Jagtap, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, will be heard together with a separate pending petition filed by the NIA challenging the bail granted to one of her co-accused.
Last September, the apex court had extended the stay granted by the Bombay High Court on the implementation of its decision to grant bail to activist Mahesh Raut, another accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has challenged the High Court’s September 21, 2023 order granting bail to Raut, who was arrested in June 2018 in connection with the case.
Jagtap’s bail plea came up for hearing on Thursday before a bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and Aravind Kumar. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K M Nataraj, representing the NIA, informed the bench about the pending petition by the probe agency against the bail granted to Raut.
“The entire issue will have to be examined in detail. Kindly consider one aspect. In respect of another accused, a petition is already pending. He was released on bail, and that has been stayed by this court,” the law officer said.
“We will take both matters together,” the bench observed, directing the top court registry to issue an appropriate order to post both cases together. “Either that (petition) will come with this or this will go with that,” the bench added.
The counsel representing Jagtap, who was arrested in September 2020, argued that she has been in custody for nearly four years. He noted that out of the 16 individuals arrested in connection with the case, seven have been released on bail, while one has passed away. He also highlighted that there are 295 witnesses in the case, charges are yet to be framed, and nothing has been recovered from Jagtap during the investigation.
Jagtap has approached the Supreme Court challenging the October 17, 2022 order of the High Court, which refused to grant her bail, stating that the NIA’s case against her was “prima facie true” and that she was part of a “larger conspiracy” orchestrated by the banned CPI (Maoist) organization.
The High Court had observed 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, raised not only “aggressive” but also “highly provocative slogans.”
The 2017 Elgar Parishad conclave was held at Shaniwarwada, an 18th-century palace-fort in the heart of Pune city. Jagtap, accused of singing and raising provocative slogans at the conclave alongside other KKM members, was arrested in September 2020 and has since been in judicial custody.
As per the investigators, the provocative speeches allegedly made at the conclave incited violence at Koregaon-Bhima, on the outskirts of Pune, on January 1, 2018. Jagtap remains in jail, facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
