MUMBAI: Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, one of the 16 people arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, who has been in jail for over 3 years walked out of the Byculla women's jail today.

Bharadwaj was released two days after the Supreme Court rejected the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) plea to stay the default bail granted to her by the Bombay High Court on December 1. 

The special NIA court which finalised the modalities about her release and bail conditions has however laid some stringent bail conditions for her release, including not making any statements to the media.

A bench of three Justices U U Lalit, SR Bhat, and Bela M Trivedi had dismissed NIA's plea challenging her release on bail saying, "We see no reason to interfere with the High Court order. Plea dismissed." 

Bharadwaj and others were arrested in August 2018 over alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave on December 31, 2017. 

The speeches, police had claimed, triggered violence near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts the next day. The police had also alleged that the conclave was backed by Maoists and their supporters.

The Bhima Koregaon violence refers to violence during an annual celebratory gathering on 1 January 2018 at Bhima Koregaon to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. The violence and stone pelting by the crowd at the gathering resulted in the death of a 28-year old youth and injury to five others.

Among the others who had been arrested in the case was priest and activist Fr Stan Swamy, who died in July in the midst of the fight for bail on health grounds. Another accused in the case, political activist and poet Varavara Rao, was granted bail on medical grounds earlier this year.

Civil right activits and others who had been advocating the relese of accused in the case have welcomed Bharadwaj's release.