Shoma Sen Granted Bail by Supreme Court in Bhima Koregaon Case

On April 5, the Supreme Court granted bail to former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, who had been detained under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 (UAPA) over alleged Maoist connections related to the Bhima Koregaon case.

Sen, who was arrested on June 6, 2018, and had been in custody since then awaiting trial, was given bail by a bench comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih. The court ruled that the restrictions for granting bail under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA did not apply to Sen’s case. The bench took into consideration Sen’s age, health issues, prolonged detention, delayed trial commencement, and the nature of the accusations against her.

Notably, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in response to the court’s query regarding the necessity of Sen’s detention, stated on March 15 that her continued custody was unnecessary. The court also ordered that Sen must not leave Maharashtra without the Special Court’s permission, surrender her passport, provide her address and mobile number to the investigating officer, keep her mobile phone’s location and GPS active, and pair it with the investigating officer’s device for location tracking.

The Supreme Court heard a petition challenging a Bombay High Court order from January 2023, which directed Sen to seek bail from the special court handling her case. Sen is the sixth out of sixteen accused in the case to be granted bail. Sudha Bharadwaj was granted default bail in 2021, while Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, and Arun Ferreira were granted bail on merits in 2022 and 2023. Varavara Rao received bail on medical grounds, and Gautam Navlakha was shifted to house arrest due to health reasons. The bail orders for Navlakha and Mahesh Raut were stayed by the High Court and extended by the Supreme Court. Father Stan Swamy, another accused, passed away in custody in July 2021.

In Sen’s case, her lawyer, Senior Advocate Anand Grover, argued that there was insufficient evidence linking her to the UAPA case or proving her alleged ties to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). Grover highlighted the absence of incriminating evidence on Sen’s electronic devices and questioned the reliability of unsigned documents found with co-accused individuals. He also emphasized Sen’s age, health, and prolonged detention as grounds for bail.

The National Investigation Agency, represented by Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, challenged the jurisdiction of Sen’s bail application in the Supreme Court. The agency supported the High Court’s decision to refer the bail application to the special court, citing the filing of additional chargesheets. Additionally, Nataraj argued that even if the High Court’s decision was incorrect, the entire material should be considered by the appellate court. Despite earlier contestations, the NIA conceded that Sen’s continued detention was unnecessary.

The case details are as follows: Shoma Kanti Sen v. State of Maharashtra & Anr., Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 4999 of 2023.