Bombay HC denies bail to activist Jyoti Jagtap in Elgar Parishad case

The Bombay High Court refused to grant bail to activist Jyoti Jagtap, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, saying the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) case against her was "prima facie true".

The NIA had alleged that Jagtap was spreading activities of the banned outfit CPI (Maoist) in urban areas and that she made efforts to mobilise Dalits at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, to protest against the government and to create hatred against it.

A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and M N Jadhav dismissed the appeal filed by 34-year-old Jagtap, challenging a February 2022 order of a special court refusing to grant her bail. "We are of the opinion that the NIA case is prima facie true. Hence the appeal stands dismissed," the court said.

Jagtap, accused of singing and raising provocative slogans at the Elgar Parishad conclave along with other members of the Kabir Kala Manch, was arrested in the case in September 2020 and has been lodged at the Byculla women's prison in Mumbai since then.

According to the investigators, provocative speeches were allegedly made at the Elgar Parishad conclave on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima in Maharashtra's Pune district on January 1, 2018.