Koregaon activist Sudha to walk out of jail today
Lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj is likely to be released from the Byculla women prison in Mumbai on Thursday, as formalities to release her on bail couldn’t be completed on Wednesday.
A day after the Supreme Court rejected the appeal filed by the NIA challenging the Bombay high court order granting her bail, the special NIA court set conditions for her release on bail, as directed to it by the HC. The conditions include that she cannot leave Mumbai without the court’s permission and not to make statements regarding proceedings in the case.
According to the lawyer of Ms Bharadwaj, she will be released from the prison on Thursday morning because the bail formalities could not be completed before 5 pm on Wednesday.
It may be recalled that the division bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar on December 1, had granted bail to Bharadwaj but at the same time had directed that she be produced before the special NIA court that would decide conditions on which she should be released on bail. However, the NIA challenged the order granting her bail before the Supreme Court, which dismissed NIA’s plea on Tuesday. Following this Ms Bharadwaj was produced before the special NIA court so that the court could set out her bail conditions.
Upon her production, special judge Dinesh E Kothalikar directed that she should be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of `50,000 and surety of the same amount and she should not leave Mumbai without court’s permission and she has been directed to surrender her passport.
Ms Bharadwaj’s lawyer Yug Mohit Chaudhary requested the court that she should be released on cash bail, as furnishing surety will take time. He also prayed that she should be allowed to travel between Maharashtra, her residence in Haryana and Chhatisgarh where she is a practicing lawyer in the high court.