The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file a reply to the medical bail plea of tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, an accused within the Elgar-Parishad Maoist hyperlinks case.
A bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale additionally directed the Maharashtra authorities authorities to file a report on Swamy’s present well being situation by May 15.
Swamy, 84, had approached the HC difficult a particular NIA courtroom’s resolution in March this yr when the latter rejected his plea for bail sought on medical grounds and deserves of the case.
Swamy’s counsel and senior advocate Mihir Desai advised the bench that the Jesuit priest was arrested in October 2020 and has since been on the Taloja jail hospital.
“He is in the advanced stage of Parkinson’s disease. He has lost the ability to hear. Given the raging COVID19 pandemic, our request is to at least grant him temporary bail,” Desai mentioned.
The bench then mentioned Swamy was “certainly entitled to bail”, and requested what have been the costs towards Swamy and at what stage was the Elgar-Parishad case listening to earlier than the particular NIA courtroom.
Desai mentioned Swamy had been charged beneath a number of stringent sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He additionally mentioned the costs have been but to be framed within the case earlier than the particular courtroom.
“Though it is nobody’s case that arms or any objectionable material were found in his (Swamy’s) possession, though he is an 84-year-old priest, who had been working in Jharkhand, he has been charged under all possible sections of the UAPA and IPC,” Desai mentioned.
The NIA’s counsel, Sandesh Patil, advised the HC that the probe company required a while to file its reply.
He additionally identified that Swamy had filed the enchantment 152 days after the statutory time restrict allowing submitting of appeals in instances of medical bail. Desai, nevertheless, mentioned on April 27, 2021, the Supreme Court condoned delays for all issues filed in the course of the pandemic.
The HC bench additionally mentioned Swamy had “not gained anything” by delaying the submitting of his enchantment and condoned such delay.
“We will issue notice and call for the medical report. We will give you the liberty to mention the appeal before the vacation bench,” the HC mentioned.
Swamy has additionally filed a separate enchantment difficult the particular NIA courtroom’s order on deserves. The excessive courtroom posted that enchantment for listening to earlier than the HC’s common bench on June 14.
The HC additionally directed that the Maharashtra authorities’s house division secretary be made a celebration to the plea. The case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered on the Elgar Parishad conclave, held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the following day close to the Koregaon-Bhima conflict memorial positioned on the town’s outskirts.
The Pune police claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists.
