Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court Friday dismissed the appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) challenging the Bombay High Court order granting bail to Elgaar Parishad case accused Anand Teltumbde.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, and including Justice Hima Kohli, heard the matter for over an hour and said, “We will not interfere.” It dismissed the appeal with a two-line order: “The SLP is dismissed. However, the observations in the impugned judgment of the High Court shall not be treated as conclusive final findings in all proceedings.”
Teltumbde, who is lodged in Taloja jail, is likely to be released on Saturday after his lawyers completed the bail formalities and a special court in Mumbai issued the release memo. He was informed about the Supreme Court’s decision by a lawyer after he was brought before the special court for a hearing along with the other arrested accused.
Earlier, in the Supreme Court, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the NIA, said the agency had in its possession documents allegedly recovered from Teltumbde’s computer as well as that of co-accused. Bhati contended that these documents established that Teltumbde is allegedly “actively involved in planning, funds transfer, conspiracy propagating, recruiting, etc.,” on behalf of CPI (Maoist), which is a proscribed outfit under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
In this context, Bhati cited a letter allegedly from an absconding accused in the case, “Comrade Prakash”, to Teltumbde. Asserting that this was seized from the computer of co-accused Rona Wilson, Bhati read out from the purported letter, saying “the CC (Central Committee of CPI (Maoist)… has agreed to allocate additional funds Rs 10 lakh yearly to organise international seminar…We have also sent funds for your upcoming… human rights convention at Paris. International campaigns can give more traction to domestic chaos. Frequent chaos and protests will lead to breakdown of law and order and this will have significant political ramifications in the coming months…”
The NIA counsel also cited the statement of a protected witness that the accused’s younger brother Milind Teltumbde had allegedly said he took to Maoism inspired by Anand Teltumbde. Milind was the secretary of the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh zone of the CPI (Maoist). He was killed in an encounter with security forces in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli in November 2021.
The agency cited another document that was allegedly recovered from the computer of a co-accused Surendra Gadling in which he purportedly says he met a comrade as instructed and that the latter had appreciated his “efforts to provide information on enemy movements in Bastar and other areas of interest”.
“I am consistently building contacts within the Delhi administration to further refine this process…If it was possible I would do anything to see the officers lying in pool of blood. Central and state forces are completely rattled at this time which is also evident from their decision to intensify their operations of the Cobra unit in Bastar,” said Bhati, reading out in court from the purported document.
The NIA also pointed to a purported letter from Wilson to “Comrade Prakash” about Teltumbde allegedly agreeing to coordinate the activities of a fact-finding commission which the Maoists intended to set up to look into “fake encounters” by security forces.
The bench asked, “What is the specific role attributable to him if you bring the provisions of UAPA into operation?”
ASG Bhati responded that “the scheme of this act is that terrorist act is not required to be committed”. “Even without terrorist act, unlawful activities which are in the nature preparatory work, of association in any manner, coordinating with these proscribed organisations,” Bhati said.
She contended that Teltumbde’s “academics was his front face”. Pointing out that he was delivering lectures in events by organisations that were fronts of CPI (Maoist), she said that “it is not his lectures that are the problem but what is going on in the garb of his front face is the problem…He can speak what he likes, but once there is an organisation that is proscribed, which is indulging in terrorist activities, and this kind of strong association with the ideology, with funds transfer, with organising a fact finding missions, recruiting people…”
Appearing for Anand Telbumbde, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal said that the “documents shown by NIA are not recovered from me…They are recovered allegedly from Rona Wilson’s computer, not mine.”
The court pointed out that there were some emails recovered by him as per the chargesheet.
Sibal, however, said they were “about fact finding, these are academics”. He said, “…none of the emails have any relation to any provisions of the Act. The threshold under the Act is very high.”
Stating that Teltumbde was an academic, Sibal said, “Basically, his subject is Dalits. Wherever there is an issue of Dalits, he is out there as an academician to deal with it… If in the process, there is some organisation which according to them is closly associated with some other organisation, then I am speaking there as an academician, that doesn’t make me a terrorist.”
He also denied that Teltumbde had received funds from Maoists to attend international seminars. “There is no evidence of any money coming in from them… They alleged I went to Paris and the fund was paid by CPI (Maoists) but the American Institute in Paris wrote to us that all expenses are paid by the Institute. And it was an academic conference,” Sibal argued.
Sibal said that Teltumbde was estranged from his brother Milind and had not met him for the last 30 years. “What they have is a Section 161 statement of a person who says somebody else told him that I had met Milind,” he said.
Sibal said there is “nothing palpably wrong with the High Court’s findings that there is no prima facie evidence to connect him with Maoist activity…The High Court applied its mind and prima facie says there doesn’t seem to be any violation of the Acts itself. And granted bail”.
In its order, the Bombay High Court had allowed Teltumbde to deposit a cash bail of Rs 1 lakh and furnish local sureties within a period of eight weeks. Among the other conditions were that he has to furnish his contact numbers and address, and submit his passport to the NIA.
Teltumbde’s lawyer Neeraj Yadav informed the court that the passport was submitted to the NIA at the time of his arrest. The NIA told the court that the passport was in the court’s custody as it was given at the time of the supplementary chargesheet being filed. After verification, special judge Rajesh Katariya issued the release order.
Among the other conditions were that Teltumbde cannot leave the jurisdiction of the special court without prior permission, and cannot tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.
While Teltumbde’s wife Rama was in the Supreme Court for the appeal hearing, he was accompanied by the other co-accused and their relatives who welcomed the apex court’s decision with hugs and tears.
