The National Investigation Agency on Monday requested that its appeal against default bail granted to lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in the Bhima Koregaon case be heard in the Supreme Court as soon as possible. On December 3, the agency filed a motion in court; two days after the Bombay High Court granted her default bail. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the NIA, stated that because the Bombay High Court order would take effect on December 8, the agency's challenge to the order should be heard as soon as possible before it becomes pointless. On December 1, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Sudha Bhardwaj, who had been imprisoned since 2018, and asked her to appear before the NIA court by December 8 to finalize modalities about her release and bail conditions. The High Court had refused default bail to the other eight accused, claiming that they had not applied for it when the right had become available to them. The Bombay High Court's Justices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar had directed that Bhardwaj be produced before the NIA trial court on December 8 so that the court could process the modalities and terms that must be followed. Sudha Bhardwaj, a lawyer-activist, was arrested in Faridabad by the Maharashtra Police in August 2018 in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. Another civil society activist, Father Stan Swamy, who had been arrested in the case along Bhardwaj, died in July this year while his bail petition was being heard by the High Court.
