On Wednesday, the Supreme Court directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra state to respond to the application for interim bail filed by accused activist Shoma Kant Sen in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case on health grounds.

The division bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice S.V. Bhatti's issued notices to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the state in response to the application of English literature professor and women's rights activist Shoma Sen, who was arrested on June 6, 2018, in connection with the case.

This year, in January, the Bombay High Court had challenged Sen's plea.

In its plea, she had been directed to contact the special NIA court for bail.

Case Brief –

This case is related to the alleged provocative speeches given during the Elgar Parishad conference held in Pune's Shaniwarwada on December 31, 2017. The police claimed that the next day, violence erupted near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the city.

The Pune police had alleged that the conference received support from Maoists. During the hearing on Wednesday, senior advocate Anand Grover, representing Shoma Sen, stated that she had applied for interim bail, saying, "I have applied for interim bail. The reason being her deteriorating health." He also mentioned that Sen is 65 years old and has been in judicial custody for five years.