NIA Moves Supreme Court Against Bail to Sudha Bharadwaj in UAPA Case: Report

Sudha Bharadwaj was granted default bail on 1 December.

Sudha Bharadwaj. Image used for representative purposes. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@SudhaBharadwaj)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) moved Supreme Court against the bail granted to UAPA accused Sudha Bharadwaj by the Bombay High Court, NDTV reported.

The move by the NIA comes just days after she was granted default bail on Wednesday, 1 December, and was asked to be produced in the NIA court on 8 December to decide the conditions of her bail.

In prison since 2018 after being charged with the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) over the Bhima-Koregaon unrest.

Bharadwaj had argued that the judge who had taken cognisance of the case against her was not designated to hear UAPA cases.

Eight other accused persons in the case – Sudhir Dhawale, Varavara Rao, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves, and Arun Ferreira – had also filed bail pleas in the high court on similar grounds.

The applications by the other eight accused, however, were rejected by the Bombay High Court. The NIA's counsel had argued that they had not filed a plea regarding this issue of default bail at the correct time.