New Delhi: Scholar activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, is likely to walk out of prison on Saturday after the Supreme Court rejected the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) plea challenging the bail granted to him. The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Anand Teltumbde in a case alleging his role in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case. "Teltumbde was giving lectures for Dalits mobilisation. Is that a terrorist activity?" Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked the Assistant Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati before dismissing the plea.
A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli was hearing the Special Leave Petition filed by the NIA. The Bombay High Court had stayed the bail order for one week so that NIA could prefer an appeal and the stay expires on Friday. The bench junked the plea clarifying that it would not interfere with the bail grant given by Bombay HC, on the grounds that there was no terrorist role attributable to Teltumbde as required under the UAPA with which he was charged. "There has to be a specific role to bring UAPA into action. We don't see anything more than Dalit mobilisation," CJI Chandrachud said.
Appearing on behalf of Teltumbde, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said that he is an academic. Quoting Teltumbde's statement, Sibal said, "Being closely associated with an organisation does not make me a terrorist. My trip to Paris, which they mentioned was an academic conference. It was not funded by anyone. I paid all the money, it did not come from any organisation."
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Referring to the allegations levelled by ASG Bhati that Teltumbde's brother was also involved in the matter, Sibal quoted Teltumbde as saying, "I have not met my brother in the past 30 years. What evidence do they have to prove that I am recruiting people? The letters submitted to the HC have nothing factually wrong. The HC has gone through all letters and said that there is nothing wrong prima facie with the letters."
Appearing for the NIA, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati contended that the e mails and some other evidence recovered from Teltumbde clearly point to possible law and order problems and his association with a banned organisation CPI (Maoist). "There's a letter written by him with inputs to celebrate the Naxalbari movement. It also has instructions to increase student mobilisation activities," ASG Bhati observed, to which the bench responded that Dalit mobilisation is not a terrorist activity.
"Coordinating with a proscribed organisation is also an offence," Bhati argued. "The organisation was banned recently owing to the attacks on security forces across the country. It barely has anything to do with the Bhima Koregaon violence," the bench observed before it dismissed the case. "We will not interfere," the court said, further adding that observations by the High Court in its bail order will not weigh during the trial.
Teltumbde was lodged in the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai since his arrest in April 2020. The Bombay High Court on November 18 granted bail to him, noting that prima facie there was no evidence to show his involvement in any terror activity. The High Court, however, stayed its bail order for a week so that the NIA, the probe agency, could approach the Supreme Court.
On Friday, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli rejected the NIA plea against the bail. Following the SC order, Teltumbde's lawyers submitted a cash bond of Rs 1,00,000 in the NIA court. Teltumbde, 73, is the third of the 16 accused arrested in the case to be released on bail. Poet Varavara Rao is currently out on bail on health grounds while lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj is out on regular bail.
The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. The Pune police had also claimed that the conclave was organised by some persons with alleged Maoist links. A First Information Report was registered by the Pune police on January 8, 2018, under the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The NIA later took over the case. (With Agency Inputs)
