Supreme Court allows Jyoti Jagtap time to file rejoinder in support of her bail plea

The matter is posted for further hearing after three weeks.

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ON Thursday, the Supreme Court granted three weeks time to anti-caste activist and musical performer, Jyoti Jagtap, to file a rejoinder in support of her bail plea.

A division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi was hearing Jagtap's plea for grant of regular bail.

Jagtap is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).

Jagtap has been incarcerated as an undertrial since September 8, 2020, and is lodged at the Byculla jail in Mumbai.

During the previous hearing, on August 22, the Bench comprising Justices Bose and Sanjay Kumar had allowed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) time to file a counter-affidavit.

Today, advocate Aparna Bhatt, appearing for Jagtap, sought three weeks time to file a rejoinder.

Allowing the time, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks. 

Background

On February 14, 2022, a special NIA court denied bail to Jagtap and three other co-accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. The court maintained that the accused had hatched a "serious conspiracy" to create unrest in the country.

On October 17, 2022, the Bombay High Court rejected her appeal which was filed against the Order of a special court under the National Investigation Agency, Act, dated February 14, 2022, under which her bail application was rejected.

According to the high court, Jagtap was involved in a "terrorist act" by organising the Elgar Parishad event and associating with prominent members of the banned organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist).

Trial is yet to begin in the Bhima Koregaon case. The prosecution has filed a chargesheet exceeding 5,000 pages and intends to cross-examine at least 200 witnesses. Several of the accused persons have now spent almost five years in judicial custody without trial.

Six of the accused persons, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Mahesh Raut have managed to secure bail so far. Father Stan Swamy, who was a co-accused, passed away due to Covid in custody in June 2021 after incarceration of over seven months.

An investigation by Arsenal Consulting, a leading, independent expert firm on digital forensics, has revealed that sophisticated malware was used to plant the digital evidence that forms the basis for the prosecution's case on the devices of two of the accused persons in the case, Gadling and Wilson. 

Arsenal's findings were published in four reports in 2021.