A special UAPA court in Pune on Wednesday rejected the bail pleas of six of the nine arrested accused — Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Varavara Rao, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Surendra Gadling — in the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case. Noting that evidence present before the court prima facie suggests that the acts of the applicants were against democracy, the court said it could move for the trial if both the defence and prosecution were ready. Twenty-three people were named as accused in the case with police alleging that they have Maoist links. While Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Surendra Gadling have been in prison since June last year, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao and Arun Ferreira have been behind bars since August 2018. Pune Police filed the first chargesheet in the case in November 2018. Police claimed that the speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017 led to violence near the Bhima Koregaon war memorial the next day. Police also alleged that the conclave was funded by Maoists. Police have claimed that the arrested lawyers and activists are members of the banned CPI(Maoist). The case has been heard by three different judges so far. The defence had to argue afresh everytime a new judge was assigned to the special court for cases under UAPA. The arguments on the bail pleas of Dhawale, Wilson, Rao, Sen, Raut and Gadling had concluded before Special Judge S R Navandar and the order was scheduled for Wednesday. The bail applications of Bharadwaj, Gonsalves and Ferreira were recently rejected by the Bombay High Court after they were denied bail by the special court last year. Ruling in the presence of the nine accused, Judge Navandar said if the evidence present before the court is considered in entirety, it prima facie shows that all the applicants are not only members of the banned organisation but were actively working to achieve its objectives. The court said that as per documents presented by the prosecution, the acts of the applicants were against democracy. “All bail applications before this court are now decided and we are now ready to move for trial if you are ready,” the court said. Judge Navandar observed that in cases under UAPA, the court has to consider material collected by investigators in its entirety. The admissibility of the evidence will be looked into at the stage of trial and not during the bail hearing, as ruled by the Supreme Court in a recent judgment in a case related to NIA. The full text of the court order is awaited. The framing of charges is expected to happen later this month, after which trial will begin. Advocate Rohan Nahar, who is representing Wilson and Rao, said, “I will be advising my clients to move the High Court to challenge this order.” Ujwala Pawar, public prosecutor in the case, said, “The court has considered letters seized from the accused about alleged conspiracies, funding, and procurement of arms and ammunition. The court has also considered the statement of the surrendered Maoist leader Pahad Singh, which reveals the role of some of the accused.”
