Bhima Koregaon case accused Sudha Bharadwaj will be released from jail after three years on a cash bond of Rs 50,000 with one or more sureties, the Special NIA (National Investigation Agency) Court has ruled. Bharadwaj, lawyer-turned-activist, was arrested in connection with the violence that broke out at Elgar Parishad in January 2018.
The Special NIA court had been directed by the Bombay High Court last week to set the conditions for Bharadwaj’s release on default bail. In addition to this, the NIA court has also laid down several other conditions like the ones set up for her fellow co-accused Varavara Rao on medical bail earlier this year.
Bharadwaj will have to stay in Mumbai and cannot leave for Chhattisgarh or out of Mumbai without court’s permission. She will also need to inform the NIA and the court about her place of residence, which will be verified by NIA before her release and contact details of herself as well as blood relatives. Bharadwaj is also directed not to make any statement related to the case with the media.
While Bharadwaj’s lawyer appealed to court to let her return to Chhattisgarh to resume her work as a lawyer, the NIA opposed it saying she could tamper the evidence.
What is the Bhima Koregaon Violence Case?
The event by the name of “Elgar Parishad” was organised to commemorate the Battle of Bhima Koregaon of 1818, wherein the Peshwas fought against the between East India Company. In the war, an army of Dalit soldiers had fought under the British forces against the Peshwa, the reason for the celebration by Dalits. In 2018, it was the 200 year anniversary of the war and extreme violence erupted over the matter.
Soon after, the case was transferred to the NIA. The Pune police had arrested a total of nine supposed “intellectuals” such as Sudha Bharadwaj, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, and Varavara Rao for inciteful speeches.
