[Bhima Koregaon] Bombay High Court rejects bail plea of Jyoti Jagtap

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected the regular bail application filed by Jyoti Jagtap, one of the youngest accused in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018..Jagtap, allegedly part of the banned performance group by the name Kabir Kala Manch (KKM), had approached the High Court in appeal after a Special Court under the National Investigation Act (NIA) had rejected her bail application on February 14 this yearThe high court bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Milind Jadhav, hwoever, rejected the appeal today.The bench observed that the NIA case was prima facie true and considering the material against Jagtap, the appeal challenging rejection of bail by Special Court stood dismissed..Jagtap was alleged to be a member of the KKM, a banned organization under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The cultural group supposedly took up social causes through their music and poetry had been formed after the Gujarat riots of 2002.Jagtap was arrested on September 8, 2020 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and was chargesheeted on October 9, 2020..High Court began hearing her bail plea on September 13 and after extensively hearing the appeal for seven dates reserved the appeal for orders on October 4..Senior Advocate Mihir Desai for Jagtap submitted the following:NIA failed to establish any prima facie case against her in the present case; that she is innocent and falsely implicated in the case;That there had been a delay of 8 days in filing the First Information Report (FIR) and that despite being an accused in the FIR, she had not been arrested for over 2 years;That the Pune Police, which was initially investigating the case, did not file a single chargesheet against her and did not arrest her because her role was limited to the Elgar Parishad event and the NIA had failed to bring out any new material recovered against her which led to her arrest;That NIA failed to bring anything on record to suggest that Jagtap was a member of Kabir Kala Manch or banned terrorist organization;That assuming Jagtap is a member of KKM, she stated that the same was no offence;That there was a difference between the NIA and the Pune Police's versions of the facts that led to the filing of the FIR;According to the Pune Police, it was Sudhir Dhawale with KKM members that organised the event; however the NIA has contended that KKM members like Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe and Jagtap were organisers;That the trial will take a very long time to complete as the case is still at the stage of framing of charge and a large number of witnesses have to be examined;There is no legally admissible evidence against Jagtp and trial is likely to result in an acquittal..Special Counsel for NIA Sandesh Patil opposed the bail arguing:That she met with wanted-accused Milind Teltumbde in Korchi, and during their stay underwent training related to use of weapons, explosives and physical activities;That Jagtap had attended meetings with the Elgar Parishad's organisers who were allegedly trying to gather a huge public mob of Dalits and other organisations against the government to create hatred against it;That Jagtap along with other accused made efforts to gather a huge public mob of Dalits and other organisations against the government to create hatred against the government;During investigation it is established that Jagtap is one of the main conspirators and active members of KKM;NIA alleged that Jagtap and others were members of the CPI (Maoist) and were furthering activities of CPI (Maoist) in urban areas on directions of Teltumbde;That Jagtap along with other members of KKM delivered hatred through street plays and skits on stage;The accused participated in preparatory meetings making efforts to gather a huge mob of Dalits and other organisations against the government.That she was responsible for maintaining account of funds in order to facilitate the Elgar Parishad event..[Read order]