Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court directs accused Shoma Sen to first move special NIA court for bail

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Bhima Koregaon accused Shoma Sen to approach the special NIA court for bail before coming to the High Court in appeal..A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and PD Naik noted that the special NIA court has not had a chance to consider the bail application after the filing of chargesheet.The bench, therefore, directed Sen to first approach the special court so that it can consider the supplementary chargesheet.In the event, the special court rejects the bail plea, then the High Court can take benefit of the observations of the lower court on the chargesheet, the bench concluded.Therefore, the bail application was disposed of with directions to Sen to approach the special court..Sen, an English literature professor and Dalit and women's rights activist, was arrested on June 6, 2018. She had applied for bail before the Pune Sessions Court in December 2018 prior to filing of chargesheet and another application after filing of chargesheet. Both the applications were rejected by the sessions court by way of common order of November 2019. After this, the investigation in the case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the trial was transferred to the special NIA court. Sen then approached the High Court for bail in 2020. .The application was first listed before a single-judge of the High Court. The single-judge then transferred the matter to the division bench since NIA appeals have to be heard by a division bench. Sen then made an application seeking to convert the bail application into an appeal. .Sen contended that she was falsely arrested because she had exposed illegal arrests and tortures.She contended that there was deliberate and conscious omission on the part of the investigating agency to maintain the integrity of the electronic evidence allegedly seized from Sen. Sen also claimed that the letters and communications allegedly containing incriminating material against the accused in the case were neither in her possession, nor addressed to her, or by her."That merely because the name 'Shoma Sen' is mentioned in any of these so called electronic letters cannot be a reasonable ground to deny Bail to the Applicant," the plea stated. She added that the contents of the letters and communications allegedly found from hard disks of the co-accused and the mere mention of the name of a lawful and registered organization such as ‘Anuradha Gandhy Memorial Committee’ cannot be sufficient ground to brand such an organization as a front organization of the proscribed CPI (Maoist)."That such branding of a lawful and legal organization / Society in such an arbitrary manner amounts to unreasonable, unfair and unjust acts of the investigating agency," the plea stated. The High Court, however, directed Sen to first approach the lower court and disposed of the plea.