The Supreme Court (on April 05) granted bail to former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen who is booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 (UAPA) for alleged Maoist links in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.
She was arrested on June 6, 2018, and has been under custody since then, awaiting trial. Today, the Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih held that the restriction for grant of bail as per Section 43D(5) of the UAPA would not apply in the case of Sen. The Bench also noted that Sen was a lady of advanced age with several ailments. Further, it took into account her prolonged incarceration, the delay in the commencement of trial and the nature of the accusations.
Notably, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), after being asked by the Court why her detention was necessary, told the Court on March 15 that her further custody was not required. This statement was also taken into account by the Court.
The Court directed that Sen shall not leave the State of Maharashtra without the permission of the Special Court and shall surrender her passport and furnish her address and mobile number to the investigating officer. She should also keep the location and GPS of her mobile phone active throughout and the device should be paired with the device of the investigating officer so that her location is known.
This story was originally published in livelaw.in. Read the full story here.