'Unbelievable after six years my mother got bail'

'I was laughing and crying at the same time. Right now, just extremely happy that she will be out and amongst us soon.'

It took a long time, almost six years, for Professor Shoma Sen to get bail. She was set to retire as head of the English department in Nagpur University, when she was arrested in June 2018.

Known for her espousal of women's rights, the academician-cum-activist was among the first five to be arrested by the Pune police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.

Altogether 16 intellectuals were arrested in the case and charged under the UAPA.

One of them, 84-year-old Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, passed away in custody in June 2021.

Professor Sen is the eighth accused to get bail. However, two of these eight, tribal rights activist Mahesh Raut and writer Gautam Navlakha, are still behind bars and under house arrest respectively, since the Supreme Court extended the stay on their bail granted to the NIA by the Bombay high court.

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The Supreme Court order granting bail to Professor Sen spoke of her advanced age, her many ailments, her long incarceration, and the delay in framing charges against her.

But the two-judge Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih also examined the bail plea on merits: 'The nature of allegations against her vis-a-vis the materials available before this Court.'

The order said that there was no prima facie evidence to show that Professor Sen had committed or attempted to commit any terrorist act, or funded or received funds for any such act.

Most of the materials against her, said the order, 'have emanated from recovery of documents from devices of third parties.;

The judgment also relied on the Supreme Court's bail order passed in the case of Professor Sen's co-accused, Vernon Gonsalves, who, along with activist Arun Ferreira, was granted bail in July 2023. Justice Bose had headed that Bench.

Professor Sen had indeed been at the Elgar Parishad, said the order, but had not made any speech there.

The court dismissed the allegation that Professor Sen was 'an urban Naxal working for the CPI (Maoist).' As for the allegation that she was a member of various 'frontal organisations of the CPI (Maoist)', the order said that no proof had been provided linking those organisations to the CPI (Maoist).

Noting that pre-conviction detention was necessary for a number of reasons, the order went on to say: 'Any form of deprival of liberty results in breach of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and must be justified on the ground of being reasonable, following a just and fair procedure and such deprival must be proportionate in the facts of a given case.'

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Rediff.com spoke to the professor's daughter Koel Sen, 36, for her first reactions.

The young film-maker confessed to being "overwhelmed".

"Six years is a very long wait," she added. "These years have been a very long journey of ups and downs."

This is not the first time Professor Sen had applied for bail. However, every time, it had been rejected or sent back to the NIA court.

At one point, the NIA court had even remarked that 'The mere fact that she is suffering from some diseases cannot be a ground for interim bail.'

That was in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Supreme Court had urged governments to release prisoners given the risks of contracting Covid due to overcrowding in jails.

Professor Sen, in her application for interim bail, had pointed out that she was specifically vulnerable to the virus because of her age, her hypertension and her ortheoarthritis.

"We've gone through so many hurdles, so many rejections," said Koel, "that after six years it's almost unbelievable that she got bail."

Recalling the tension she would experience every time her mother's bail application would come up for hearing, Koel said that this time, she was hopeful. "The arguments had gone quite well. Our lawyers have done a really fantastic job," she added.

Senior Advocate Anand Grover argued Shoma Sen's case.

In a surprising volte face, the NIA, which had opposed bail on every occasion, for the first time on March 15 told the Supreme Court that her custody was no longer required.

Koel had been looking at the live feed as the judgment was being delivered. "I was laughing and crying at the same time," she said. "Right now, I'm just extremely happy that she will be out and amongst us soon."

Koel will have to wait a day longer. Till late Friday night, Professor Sen's lawyers were busy with bail paperwork needed for filing in the NIA court on Saturday.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com