Elgaar case: Court refuses to cancel bail of 4 accused over Press Club gathering

Special Judge Chakor S Baviskar said the four had indeed gathered with other invitees at the Press Club and may have spoken to one another, possibly even discussing the case. But that, by itself, could not establish a breach of their bail conditions.

“The prosecution has to establish it at least with some sort of acceptable evidence,” the court said, noting there was no evidence to show that the accused had gathered with the specific intention of propagating the activities of the banned CPI (Maoist).

The court said the purpose of the bail condition was to prevent the accused from engaging in “similar activities” to those alleged in the case. “Sans any evidence to that effect, certainly, mere gathering of the accused falls short to conclude that, the bail condition is breached,” it said.

The court, however, said the accused should have exercised greater caution and recused themselves from the gathering to avoid any complications.

The defence had argued that the four were invited by a third party and were unaware that the others would be present. Lawyers Yug Chaudhry and R Satyanarayan, appearing for Bharadwaj and Rao respectively, said the discussion was general and included issues such as prison conditions.

The court also noted that the accused routinely meet in court and corridors during hearings and may speak to one another or discuss the case. Merely because the venue shifted from the courtroom to the Press Club, it said, could not amount to a breach of bail conditions.

It also examined CCTV footage of the gathering, which had no audio. The court said the mood and body language visible in the footage did not indicate that the accused were discussing serious issues such as the ideology of the banned organisation.

Bharadwaj was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in December 2021, while Rao was granted interim bail on medical grounds in February 2021, which was later confirmed by the Supreme Court in August 2022. Gonsalves and Ferreira were granted bail by the Supreme Court in July 2023. The trial is yet to begin.

The NIA had approached Mumbai Press Club office-bearers in April, two days after three members were suspended over the January 19 event. The suspensions followed an internal committee report that raised concerns about the bail conditions of the accused who attended the gathering. The three members were reinstated after elections at the club last month.