3 min readMumbaiJan 18, 2023 08:49 AM IST
First published on: Jan 18, 2023 at 12:54 AM IST
The special court hearing the Elgaar Parishad case in Mumbai had last November sought an extension of one year to decide whether to frame charges against the accused and also take a call on their discharge applications.
On August 18, the Supreme Court had directed the trial court to decide on these aspects within three months, granting it time till last November. However, the Registrar of the Bombay High Court, additional principal judge and special judge of the city civil and sessions court had last November wrote to the SC seeking an extension of one year to comply with its directions given last August.
On Monday, a division bench of the SC said that it will proceed with hearing bail applications of activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira from January 30. It was while hearing Gonsalves’ plea last year that the SC had directed the special court to decide within three months whether charges are required to be framed against the accused or not.
“We have been apprised that some of the accused have already preferred application seeking discharge, those applications shall also be heard simultaneously,” the SC had then said.
During the hearing, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) counsel had told SC that the arrested accused were submitting applications, as a result of which the special court was unable to take up the matter of effectively considering framing of charges.
The accused had begun filing discharge applications last April, following which the court had issued notices to the NIA to file its reply to the pleas. The special court had then began hearing the discharge pleas. It is learnt to have informed the SC that some of the accused are still in the process of approaching it with discharge pleas. The latest plea was filed earlier this month by Gonsalves. The NIA filed its reply on the plea last week.
Some of the accused have sought discharge from certain sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The court will first pass orders on their applications, then proceed with framing of charges, which will be the first step towards commencing the trial.
A total of 16 accused were booked allegedly because they are members of the banned CPI (Maoist) and had taken part in activities to further its cause. One of the accused, Father Stan Swamy, passed away in 2021. Four others are currently out on bail. They include Gautam Navlakha, who is under house arrest in Navi Mumbai; Varavara Rao, who was granted bail on medical grounds; Sudha Bharadwaj, who was granted default bail and Anand Teltumbde, the first to be granted bail on merits.
On Monday, a division bench of the SC said that it will proceed with hearing bail applications of activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira from January 30. 
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