'Shoma Sen Was Entitled To Bail'

'She had been in jail for nearly 6 years; the charges had not been framed and the trial had not begun.'
'Even if it began, it would take years to complete.'

Anand Grover was the Senior Advocate who got regular bail for Bhima Koregaon accused Professor Shoma Sen, allowing her to walk out of jail after 6 years.

In August 2022, he had got poet Varavara Rao, another accused in the same case, regular bail on medical grounds, after it had been denied in the lower courts despite the poet's ill-health.

"The fact that till today the prosecution has not given all documents to the accused and not even ventured to frame charges, shows that they have no case at all. The process has become the punishment," Anand Grover tells Jyoti Punwani.

Shoma Sen's was a difficult case, with her bail application pending since November 2019, and the high court having ordered her to go back to the NIA court in January 2023. How did you approach it?

I approached it like I do all difficult cases. Believing that the cause of Shoma Sen is just and therefore she is entitled to bail, I made sure that the draft settled by me was 100% top class. I spent good time on preparation of arguments.

As always, I didn't take any adjournments.

Basically, I followed my usual practice: Persevere and not give up.

What were your main arguments?

* Though Shoma was charged under the UAPA, there was admittedly no terrorist act.

* All the evidence was in the form of electronic documents, but there were no signed letters or e-mails to back them up. Neither was there any corroborative evidence to back them up.

* Examination of each of the documents showed that they had weak probative value, which had also been held in the case of her co-accused Vernon Gonsalves (in July 2023) and Anand Teltumbde (in November 2022).

* She had been in jail for nearly 6 years; the charges had not been framed and the trial had not begun. Even if it began, it would take years to complete.

* She had never been charged in a criminal case before.

* She was over 65 years of age with multiple health ailments.

* She was not likely to jump bail.

Therefore she should be granted bail.

Given that bail for every accused in the Bhima Koregaon case has been difficult, with multiple delays and rejections, were you confident?

As I said, as the cause of Shoma and her co-accused was just, I was always confident

What was the response of the Bench?

The Bench was objective and heard both sides patiently. One of the judges (Justice Aniruddha Bose) had earlier decided the bail of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira and granted bail. So that was additional reason to be confident.

How do you account for the NIA's volte face<?em> in March, saying they no longer needed her custody?

They were forced into that position. They had earlier taken a very rigid stance, contending that as the high court had not decided on the merits of the bail application and remanded it to the NIA court, we should be relegated back either to the high court or the NIA court.

I crossed that hurdle by showing that the NIA itself had not objected to the converting of her bail application to an NIA appeal. So they could not argue that procedure had not been followed.

After that they came out with the argument that we had suppressed documents. I was able to show that the documents we had allegedly suppressed had been discarded by other benches and did not support the case of the prosecution.

Will this be a precedent?

Yes, in other bail cases.

What does this judgment show about the Elgar Parishad case, and the UAPA law?

The fact that till today the prosecution has not given all documents to the accused and not even ventured to frame charges, shows that they have no case at all. The process has become the punishment.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com