Bhima Koregaon case: SC to hear bail plea of professor Shoma Sen on October 4

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned for October 4 plea of Professor Shoma Sen, accused in Bhima Koregaon case, challenging an order of the Bombay High Court declining her bail.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and SVN Bhatti directed the matter to be adjourned for October 4 at the request of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) and also issued notice in the interim bail application filed on medical grounds by Sen.

The Bombay High Court had in January directed Professor Sen to approach the special NIA court for bail before coming to the High Court.

Sen, an English literature professor, has been behind bars since 2018. She had applied for bail before the Pune Sessions Court in December 2018 prior to the filing of the chargesheet and another application after the chargesheet, however, both applications were rejected by the Sessions Court in November 2019.

Later, Sen, former departmental head at the Nagpur University, approached the Bombay High Court seeking bail. However, the High Court declined to grant her bail.

Sen and others were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 in connection with 2018 caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune, and for having alleged links with the proscribed outfit, Communist Party of India (Maoists).