SC grants bail to Gautam Navlakha: All about the Bhima Koregaon violence case, other accused

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) challenging the high court order granting him bail. The agency’s counsel contended that the allegations were serious and that not all the co-accused had been granted bail.

Timeline

Gautam Navlakha was arrested on April 14, 2020, over his alleged involvement in the violence that erupted in Bhima Koregaon village in Pune district on January 1, 2018. Sixteen activists have been arrested in the case — nine by Pune Police in 2018, and another seven by the NIA after it took over the investigation in January 2020 — and eight of them are currently out on bail. The Bombay High Court had on December 19 last year granted bail to Navlakha, but stayed its order for three weeks after the NIA sought time to file an appeal in the top court. He was placed under house arrest in Navi Mumbai subject to strict conditions following a Supreme Court order in November 2022, after he pleaded poor health.

Among those arrested were prominent lawyers, activists and academics, who were accused of being members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), and furthering the cause of Maoists.

Who have been released on bail among the 16 arrested?

Shoma Sen: Former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, who was arrested on June 6, 2018, was granted bail on April 5 this year.

Varavara Rao: The first accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case to be given bail was Telugu poet P Varavara Rao, on medical grounds, for six months in February 2021. While the bail was extended, the Bombay High Court rejected his plea for permanent bail in April 2022. However, in August 2022, the Supreme Court granted Rao bail on medical grounds, since he had already spent more than two years as an undertrial.

Anand Teltumbde: Former IIT professor Anand Teltumbde was the first accused to be granted bail in the case on merits on November 18, 2022. The NIA had arrested Teltumbde on April 14, 2020.

Sudha Bharadwaj: Lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj was granted default bail by the Bombay HC on December 1, 2021, more than three years after her arrest. The high court had rejected her bail plea in 2019, but a subsequent plea was allowed on the ground that her detention was illegal — the HC found that the court that granted Pune Police an extension to file a chargesheet under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, did not have the power to do so.

Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira: On July 28 last year, the Supreme Court granted bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira. The court said that it was unable to accept the NIA’s contention that the two accused “have committed the offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation”.

Who are still behind bars?

Those who continue to remain behind bars include journalist-activist Sudhir Dhawale, activist Rona Wilson, lawyer Surendra Gadling, Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu, and cultural artists and activists Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, and Jyoti Jagtap.

The appeals of Wilson, Gadling, and Dhawale are pending before the high court. A special court had previously rejected their pleas. Babu’s bail plea is pending before the Supreme Court. On October 17, 2023, an HC Bench rejected the bail plea of Jyoti Jagtap.

The Bombay High Court granted bail to activist Mahesh Raut on September 21 last year, but he has not been released yet.

What is the status of the case?

On August 18, 2022, the Supreme Court had directed the trial court to decide on framing of charges against the accused and their discharge applications in three months, granting it time till November 2022. The court had sought an extension of one year.

The court is still hearing the discharge applications. The last hearing was on April 1 this year.