Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case: SC defers hearing on Shoma Kanti Sen’s interim bail plea to Dec 6

New Delhi, November 30

The NIA on Thursday opposed Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case accused Shoma Kanti Sen’s plea for interim bail on health grounds, saying she was suffering from general ailments and there was nothing special about it.

”The medical report shows that these are general ailments and there is nothing special about it. If required, we will constitute a medical board to ascertain her health condition,” Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj a Bench led by Justice Aniruddha Bose on behalf of the NIA.

Senior counsel Anand Grover, representing Sen,sought to highlight that she has been in jail for over five years and was also suffering from several ailments.

The Bench deferred the hearing to December 6 after Natraj vehemently opposed Sen’s interim bail plea and said he was ready to argue her main petition seeking regular bail.    

Sen, an English literature professor and women’s rights activist, was arrested on June 6, 2018, in connection with the case. The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held at Shaniwarwada in Pune city on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city’s outskirts. The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists. Later the probe was transferred to the NIA.