The Supreme Court recently directed the bail plea of activist and Bhima Koregaon-accused Jyoti Jagtap to be tagged with co-accused Shoma Kanti Sen’s appeal and heard together.
A bench comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Kumar was hearing Jyoti Jagtap’s petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject her bail application. Jyoti Jagtap has been lodged in jail since September 2020 for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 after being arrested in connection with the 2018 caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune, and for having alleged links with the proscribed far-left outfit, Communist Party of India (Maoists).
During the hearing on Wednesday, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj informed the bench that there were several appeals before the apex court that had arisen out of the same first information report (FIR) in the Bhima Koregaon case, urging the court to hear them together.
Responding, Justice Bose said that the bench will have to go by the evidence and what kind of evidence has come against each accused. He added that one matter has been heard in part by Justice Augustine George Masih and him, which they will club along with Jagtap’s petition with that part-heard. He added that for the sake of convenience, it will be better if all of it is heard by the same bench.
Appearing for Jyoti Jagtap, Advocate Aparna said that she had no objection to the tagging of the matters but raised concerns about the prolonged period of incarceration.
Taking cognizance of the submissions by the two counsel, Justice Bose adjourned the hearing after observing that when this appeal is called out for hearing, it is jointly submitted by parties counsel that there are several appeals originating out of the same FIR. He added that it would be in the interest of justice if all these appeals are heard together. He mentioned that in view of the aforementioned submissions, they direct tagging of the plea with Shoma Kanti Sen’s appeal.
Notably, another bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and SC Sharma, directed that the matter relating to the bail of co-accused Gautam Navlakha be tagged along with the connected matters.
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