Sudha Bharadwaj released from jail after 3 years
Bharadwaj’s kin happy on her release, but disheartened as she lost 3 years of her life
After spending over three years in jail after her arrest in the Elgar Parishad violence case, lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Byculla women’s prison on Thursday a few minutes before 12 noon. Her old friend Smita Gupta was among the few people who had come to receive her from Byculla jail in South Mumbai.
Before Bharadwaj’s release, Gupta told the media persons that due to conditions imposed by court, Bharadwaj will not speak to the media. She also said that Bharadwaj’s family and friends are very happy that she was being released from jail but they were equally disheartened that her life’s precious three years were lost for the crime she didn’t commit.
Gupta further said that the case against Bharadwaj was false and activists fighting for human rights have been implicated in it. She demanded that the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) should be repealed.
“Under this Act, many people are behind bars without trial and they are unable to get bail because of its stringent provisions,” she said.
Bharadwaj was granted default bail by the Bombay High Court last week. The ground on which she was granted bail was the fact that the court which granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) an extension to file its chargesheet was not competent to do so.
Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhary had requested the court to show leniency to her and allow her to travel between Maharashtra, her residence in Haryana and Chhatisgarh where she is a practicing lawyer in the High Court because she has lost her livelihood due to her incarceration during the last three years. He had also requested the court to keep the amount of surety low, but special NIA court judge Dinesh E. Kothalikar observed that the court cannot lose sight of the fact that there are serious charges leveled against her and the prosecution has objection to these conditions.