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The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned for four weeks a plea filed by Jyoti Jagtap, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case under the anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), challenging an order of the Bombay High Court declining her bail last year.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi adjourned the hearing after advocate Aparna Bhat, appearing for Jagpat, sought time to file a response on the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) affidavit. The bench granted three weeks to Bhat to file a response. On May 4, the apex court sought responses from the Maharashtra government and the NIA on Jagtap's plea against the High Court order. Jagtap, 32, a member of Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) a cultural group alleged to be a front organisation of the banned CPI (Maoist), was arrested by the NIA in September 2020. According to the NIA, Jagtap and others organised the Elgar Parishad on December 31, 2017, which led to violence the following day. She has approached the top court challenging the October 17, 2022 order of the High Court which had refused to grant her bail. Jagtap, singer-cum-activist, had approached the High Court in appeal after a special NIA Court had rejected her bail application on February 14, 2023, leading to move the apex court. High Court had said the NIAs case against Jagtap was "prima facie true" and that she was part of a "larger conspiracy" hatched by the banned outfit CPI (Maoist). The High Court had said Jagtap was an active member of KKM, which during its stage play at the 'Elgar Parishad' conclave on December 31, 2017 in Pune city gave not only "aggressive, but highly provocative slogans". Jagtap, accused of singing and raising provocative slogans at the conclave along with other KKM members, was arrested in September 2020 and has been lodged at the Byculla women's prison in Mumbai since then. (ANI)
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