Bombay high court begins hearing quashing pleas of Elgar Parishad accused – Times of India

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday began hearing quashing petitions filed by accused Rona Wilson and Shoma Sen in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case citing lack of evidence. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) counsel Sandesh Patil raised a preliminary objection saying the chargesheet, filed before trial court, be brought on record before the HC.
Senior counsel Indira Jaising, arguing the activists’ case before a bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar, said the NIA is relying only on letters and hard disks and what the agency has is not evidence in the eyes of law.
Jaising claimed that someone else was responsible for the violence that broke out the day after the Elgar Parishad held on December 31, 2017, in Pune’s Shaniwarwada. She further said that the police had initially arrested one Milind Ekbote for the violence and released him. Jaising asked where was the material to even charge the activists with serious offences of attacking the sovereignty of the country. Terming it a case of “selective” prosecution, Jaising questioned the gathering of “evidence” and asked the issue also is whether Wilson’s computer has been tampered with. The hearing will continue on the next date.
The two activists are relying on an US-based forensic lab report that indicated planting of evidence on Wilson’s laptop.
Sen’s petition also said that her incarceration is on the “basis of fraudulent evidence in order to falsely implicate critical dissenting intellectuals…by slapping cases under stringent laws against public justice”.
The NIA’s reply had “stoutly” denied the “report of Arsenal Consultancy and also the report of the American Bar Association”. The independent forensic report of a “malware” attack on Wilson’s computer “cannot be looked into at this stage”, said the NIA, adding that it came into the picture in January 2020 when the probe was transferred to it from Pune police. tnn