Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case: SC grants bail to activist Shoma Sen

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Shoma Kanti Sen, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

Sen, an English literature professor and women's rights activist, was arrested in connection with the case on June 6, 2018.

Pronouncing the order, a bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih directed that, among other conditions, Sen shall not leave the state of Maharashtra without the leave of the special court.

It said she shall inform the NIA's investigating officer about the address where she will reside during the bail period.

The bench said Sen shall also keep the GPS of her mobile phone active round the clock.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts.

The Pune Police had claimed that the conclave was backed by Maoists.

The probe in the case, in which more than a dozen activists and academicians have been named as accused, was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).