Elgar Parishad case: Bombay High Court permits activist Anand Teltumbde to visit his mother for two days

Anand Teltumbde. File Photo

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday permitted activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case, to visit his mother in Chandrapur for two days in view of his brother and alleged Naxal leader Milind Teltumbde's death.

Teltumbde is presently lodged at Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai, as an undertrial in the Elgar Parishad case.

A bench of Justices S B Shukre and G A Sanap partly allowed Teltumbde's plea filed through senior counsel Mihir Desai and permitted him to visit his mother between March 8 and March 10, in view of the death of his brother Milind Teltumbde, who was killed in an ambush in November last year.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had objected to the activist's plea citing that Milind Teltumbde was a known Maoist leader and had been involved in illegal activities.

"The seriousness is that the person who has died was a wanted accused who was killed in an ambush," NIA counsel Sandesh Patil told the court.

To this, the bench, however, said that death was death, irrespective of the activities the deceased might have been involved in.

"A death is a death. He may be an accused, he (Milind) may have been involved in activities, but then ultimately he was the present applicant's (Anand) brother. There has been a loss of human life," the court observed.

The court said Teltumbde can meet his mother during the day between March 8 and 10, with police escort, and the cost of the escort must be borne by the state government.

"The applicant is allowed to meet his mother in Chandrapur on March 8 and 9. To achieve the purpose of meeting his mother, he shall be taken with police escort with appropriate bandobast in a manner so as to reach Chandrapur by morning or afternoon of March 8. Thereafter the applicant shall leave Chandrapur along with police escort on March 10 at appropriate time and if some time is available before leaving, the applicant shall be permitted to meet his mother on March 10 if possible," the court said.

Teltumbde will be brought back to Taloja jail on March 11, it stated.

The High Court also issued notices to the NIA on two other pleas filed by the activist challenging certain provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), including the stringent bail conditions under the Act, and the misuse of the term frontal organisations by the Central agencies.

The court will hear these pleas further next month.

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