The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to activist and Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) member Jyoti Jagtap, who has been in custody for more than five years in the Elgar Parishad–Maoist links case.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order after her counsel, senior advocate Aparna Bhat, submitted that Jagtap has remained incarcerated since her arrest in September 2020. Advocate Karishma Maria also appeared on her behalf.
Jagtap was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for her alleged role in the Elgar Parishad event held at Pune’s Shaniwarwada on December 31, 2017. She is accused of performing and raising provocative slogans during a Kabir Kala Manch stage act at the conclave.
The Bombay High Court had earlier dismissed Jagtap’s appeal challenging a February 2022 order of the special NIA court rejecting her bail. The High Court held that she was an active member of KKM, which, during its performance at the conclave, gave “not only aggressive, but also highly provocative slogans.”
The court also found “reasonable grounds for believing” the NIA’s allegations that Jagtap had “conspired, attempted, advocated and abetted the commission of a terrorist act,” calling the accusations prima facie true.
The NIA has maintained that KKM is a front organisation of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
Jagtap and several others are accused in the larger case related to alleged Maoist links and speeches delivered at the 2017 Elgar Parishad, which investigators claim instigated violence at Koregaon-Bhima on January 1, 2018. The violence occurred on the outskirts of Pune a day after the conclave.
With the Supreme Court’s order, Jagtap will now be released on interim bail while the proceedings in the case continue.
