Team News Riveting
New Delhi, December 7
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) challenging the Bombay High Court order that granted default bail to lawyer activist Sudha Bharadwaj in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case.
The order was passed by a Bench of Justices U U Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi.
The apex court said that extension of time for investigation and detention under provisions of Section 43 D (2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure could have only been done by the special court hearing NIA cases. “When there is a separate special court then it will only hear this,” Justice Bhat pointed.
“When special courts manned by special judges was in existence then why did you make this application for extension before a magisterial court,” the Bench quizzed.
The Bombay High Court had on December 1 granted default bail to Bharadwaj in the Bhima Koregaon case on the grounds that the extension of time for investigation and detention under provisions of Section 43 D (2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure had not been done by a court of competent jurisdiction.
The FIR was lodged on January 8, 2018 in the Bhima Koregaon case that led to arrest of 16 accused and 3 charge-sheets. The trial in the case is yet to begin.
Eight other accused had also applied for bail along with Bharadwaj but were rejected.
