JUSTICE REVATI Mohite Dere of Bombay High Court on Friday recused from hearing an appeal filed by Elgaar Parishad case accused Arun Ferreira challenging the rejection of bail by a special court in 2019. Ferreira had approached the HC seeking default bail on parity with co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj, who was released on default bail in December 2021. When Ferreira’s plea came up for hearing before a division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh, Justice Dere recused herself from hearing the application without assigning any reason. The plea will now be moved before another bench. In his petition, filed through advocate R Sathyanarayanan, Ferreira stated that while his plea is at par with Bharadwaj, the only distinguishing factor is that he had filed for default bail before the trial court on the 94th day since arrest while Bharadwaj had filed for same on the 91st day. On December 1, 2021, a High Court bench led by Justice SS Shinde granted default bail to Bharadwaj but rejected the pleas of eight other co-accused. Among the eight accused Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut were arrested on June 6, 2018, while P Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Ferreira were arrested on August 28, 2018. The HC had observed that in the case of the three accused, the default bail plea was not filed within the stipulated time before the chargesheet was lodged against them on February 21, 2019. Granting relief to Bharadwaj, the court had observed that the Pune Sessions Court had granted an extension of time to the Pune Police, which was then investigating the case, to file chargesheet after the mandatory 90-day period was over and did not have jurisdiction to do so. In May, the HC had rejected a review plea filed by Rao, Gonsalves and Ferreira seeking a review of the December 1, 2021, verdict that rejected their plea seeking release on default bail. The High Court will hear Ferreira’s default bail plea in due course.
