Elgaar case accused’s plea rejected: Going to speak at literature event ‘sort of luxury’: Court to Teltumbde
The court said that the Bombay High Court while granting bail to Teltumbde in November 2022 had imposed a condition with a specific intention, directing him not to go beyond local limits of the court.
Anand Teltumbde said the decision was difficult to understand as his book, The Cell and the Soul: A Prison Memoir, had already been published and discussed at public forums (Express file photo)
Observing that travelling outside Mumbai to speak at a literature event for academic purposes is “sort of a luxury”, a special court Wednesday rejected permission to scholar Anand Teltumbde, booked in the Elgaar Parishad case, to travel to Kochi for two days.
“Howsoever scholar and academician the present applicant/accused (Teltumbde) be in his field, however, the Hon’ble High Court with specific intention has imposed that condition on the applicant/accused, not to go beyond local limits of jurisdiction of the Court. The grounds and reason contended by the applicant/accused in this application also not sort of an emergency or extreme circumstances which are inevitable and make him incumbent to go. It is sort of luxury, academic though,” special judge Chakor S Baviskar said in the order.
The court said that the Bombay High Court while granting bail to Teltumbde in November 2022 had imposed a condition with a specific intention, directing him not to go beyond local limits of the court.
“He shall not leave the jurisdiction of the State of Maharashtra and if he desires to travel within India, he shall seek prior leave and permission of the Trial Court,” the high court order says.
Teltumbde, who was arrested in 2020 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), was granted bail in 2022. The trial in the case against him and 14 others, some of whom were arrested in 2018, is yet to begin.
Teltumbde, who recently had two of his books published, had filed a plea before the court seeking permission to travel to Kochi in Kerala from November 28 to November 30.
His lawyer, R Satyanarayan, in the plea for permission, said that he has been invited as a speaker in an arts and literature festival to be held in Kochi, sponsored and organised by a Kerala-based major publication.
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Special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty told the court that the plea was moved on the “eleventh hour” and that Teltumbde “is in a habit” to seek permission to go out of Mumbai.
SPP Shetty also said that if the court was allowing Teltumbde, it could set a condition to mark his presence daily at a local police station in Kochi.
The court said that it was aware that it had previously permitted some of the accused arrested in the case to travel out of Mumbai. It
said that Teltumbde had last month withdrawn a plea to travel to Bengaluru after being told about the high court order on the conditions imposed on him. In January and February 2024, the court had permitted him to travel to Bengaluru on two occasions, to receive an award by the Karnataka government and to attend a conference by them, respectively.
Sadaf Modak is a distinguished Legal Correspondent based in Mumbai whose work demonstrates exceptional Expertise and Authority in covering the intricacies of the judicial and correctional systems. Reporting for The Indian Express, she is a highly Trustworthy source for in-depth coverage of courtroom proceedings and human rights issues.
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