Sudha Bharadwaj first default bail in Bhima Koreagon case; NIA likely to appeal to Supreme Court

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted default bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Sudha Bharadwaj, the first such bail granted in the case. .The order was passed by a Bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar.Earlier, various accused including Varavara Rao were granted interim bail for restricted periods on medical grounds or for visiting relatives or attending family functions.One of the accused, Father Stan Swamy had passed away in July..Bharadwaj has been in jail since August 2018 when she was arrested from Delhi and taken to Mumbai. A lawyer and activist who has worked for rights of tribal communities and others in Chhattisgarh, Bharadwaj was teaching at the prestigious National Law University, Delhi at the time of her arrest..Bharadwaj’s plea filed through advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry had contended that upon the expiry of 90 days of detention, there was no valid or lawful order extending time for the filing of the chargesheet, and hence Bharadwaj is entitled to default bail.Chaudhry had relied upon certain replies received from the Deputy Registrar of High Court under the Right to Information Act which stated that Sessions Judges Vadane and Pande had not been appointed as special judges under the NIA Act. Instead, three other judges had been appointed as special judges by the Maharashtra government.The Maharashtra government, while opposing the plea, had stated that as long as the investigation was not assigned to NIA, the proceedings pertaining to the investigation could continue before the regular courts.Among other grounds for opposing Bharadwaj's petition, NIA had argued that there was a binding judgment of the Bombay High Court that the NIA court comes into the picture only after the NIA takes over the investigation of a case..After the verdict granting bail was pronounced, NIA had sought a stay on the same for two weeks, indicating that it is likely to file an appeal against the order before the Supreme Court..[Read Judgment]