[Reader-list] Fwd: SONI SORI DENIED BAIL BY HIGH COURT

[Asit Das]

Soni Sori, Lingaram Kodopi denied bail by Chhattisgarh High Court
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  TOPICS
India <http://www.thehindu.com/topics/?categoryId=81>
Chhattisgarh<http://www.thehindu.com/topics/?categoryId=111>
crime, law and justice <http://www.thehindu.com/topics/?categoryId=600>
trials <http://www.thehindu.com/topics/?categoryId=645>

Tribal schoolteacher Soni Sori and her relative, journalist Lingaram
Kodopi, have been denied bail by Chhattisgarh High Court in the Essar Steel
case on Monday. Rejecting the bail petition, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra
of Chhattisgarh High Court said that “on basis of the seriousness of the
evidence,” the bail petition had been rejected. Activists, associated with
campaigns to free Ms. Sori, were perhaps expecting a positive order,
especially after her acquittal in all other major cases in recent months.

“This is extremely disappointing,” said one the campaigners.

Ms. Sori’s lawyer in High Court, Shishir Dixit, told *The Hindu* that the
judge listened to the argument for about an hour and then rejected the
petition. “He said that the crime is of a heinous nature and on basis of
the seriousness of the evidence, bail has been rejected,” said Mr. Dixit.
Ms. Sori’s co-accused Lingaram Kodopi’s bail plea has also been rejected.
Mr. Kodopi is a professionally-trained tribal journalist from Dantewada and
is also linked with Ms. Sori in the Essar Steel case.

Other than one minor case of allegedly torching vehicles, where Ms. Sori
got bail last May, both of them have been acquitted in all other cases. Ms.
Sori has been acquitted in six other cases in the last one and half year,
while Mr. Kodopi has been acquitted in the only other case of planning an
attack on local Congress leader Avdesh Gautam.

The remaining case is the one of Essar Steel, where both of them have been
accused of arranging “protection money” on behalf of the company to
Maoists. The main accused, D.V.C.S Verma, general manager at an Essar steel
plant, and B.K. Lala, an Essar contractor, were arrested for allegedly
disbursing the money. Both Mr. Verma and Mr. Lala got bail within first few
months of their arrests.

*“Essar’s men get bail”*

One of Mr. Kodopi’s lawyers, Amarnath Pandey, said that while the court’s
order should be “observed with utter reverence,” the developments in
Chhattisgarh are “deeply disturbing.”

“The co-accused of Soni Sori and Lingaram Kodopi are managers or
contractors of Essar Steel. The manager D.V.C.S. Verma got bail on grounds
of ill-health and the police did not file a charge sheet against the
contractor B.K. Lala within 90 days, and thus facilitated his bail. Are we
to conclude that if one is with Essar, he can get bail, and rot in jail if
she or he is not an employee [of Essar]?” Mr. Pande told *The Hindu*.

He also said that while police allegedly seized Rs. 15 lakh from Mr. Lala,
while his “client [Mr. Kodopi] was not carrying any money… Yet Lingaram is
in jail and Lala is out on bail.”

Refusing to comment on the order on granting bail in an allegedly
discriminatory manner, an Essar spokesperson told *The Hindu* that “the
granting of bail is purely the jurisdiction of the court and based on
merits and records before the court.”

The bail plea of Ms. Sori and Mr. Kodopi was moved to High Court in
Bilaspur last month amidst speculations that government had disapproved
bail to almost all the tribal people who were arrested on charges related
to naxalite activities. “The very low rate of bail to tribal people
arrested for allegedly supporting the naxalites fuels the speculation,”
said a lawyer. Moreover, the fact that Ms. Sori has always been acquitted
in previous cases, yet never granted bail has also kept her lawyers in two
minds. This prompted all her lawyers to get on board and move the bail
petition to High Court last month, just to get it rejected on Monday
afternoon.

“We will decide the course of the follow up action once we receive a copy
of the order,” said Mr. Dixit. "

Keywords: Soni Sori<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/soni-sori-lingaram-kodopi-denied-bail-by-chhattisgarh-high-court/article4895096.ece#>
, Lingaram Kodopi<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/soni-sori-lingaram-kodopi-denied-bail-by-chhattisgarh-high-court/article4895096.ece#>
, Essar Steel case<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/soni-sori-lingaram-kodopi-denied-bail-by-chhattisgarh-high-court/article4895096.ece#>
, Maoists<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/soni-sori-lingaram-kodopi-denied-bail-by-chhattisgarh-high-court/article4895096.ece#>
, Naxalites<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/soni-sori-lingaram-kodopi-denied-bail-by-chhattisgarh-high-court/article4895096.ece#>
, protection money<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/soni-sori-lingaram-kodopi-denied-bail-by-chhattisgarh-high-court/article4895096.ece#>
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