Snehal Upadhyay-
Published on August 04, 2021, at 05:26 PM
The Bombay High Court has reserved its order on lawyer-activist Sudha Bhardwaj’s default bail plea in the 2018 caste violence case of Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad.
The division bench comprising of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar heard a plea filed by Sudha Bharadwaj.
The plea was filed under section several sections like 439, 482 and 167(2)(a)(i) of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Section 43 D(2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Advocate Yug Chaudhry along with Advocate Payoshi Roy contended that Bharadwaj and her co-accused had the charges under the UA(P) Act, hence their case should have been presented before a Special Court and not before Judge Vadane.
Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni and Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh responded to this that the case would go to the Special Court only after the investigation is entrusted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Advocate Yug Chaudhry cited the Judgement given by Apex Court in the case of Bikramjit Singh v/s The State of Punjab where the Court stated that cases under which the charge is framed under UAPA, whether it is investigated by NIA or by any other investigating agency of the state, the Special Court set up by NIA has the authority to try the cases.
Whereas Advocate General Kumbhakoni contended that the facts of Bikramjit’s case and the aforementioned case were different hence the judgement cannot be relied upon.
“Whether NIA Act applies or not when NIA investigates was not something that was adjudicated in that judgement. So, Bikramjit has said many things but that is not the ratio, the facts of the two cases are completely different”, Kumbhakoni argued.
Additional Solicitor General for NIA also stated that Bharadwaj hadn’t filed any valid default bail application.
Also Read: Father Stan Swamy, undertrial prisoner in Bhima Koregoan Case passes away