A Mumbai special court on August 28 rejected the applications filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking rejection of bails granted to four accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. The NIA had sought cancellation of bails granted to activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, and poet P Varavara Rao.
The investigating agency moved the court alleging that the accused attended a January 19 gathering at the Mumbai Press Club where other accused persons were present, and this amounted to a violation of the conditions set by the bail order.
Special Judge Chakor S Baviskar highlighted the natural tendency of the co-accused to interact. But that alone could not mean that they committed a breach of the condition imposed. “It is but human that, they even might have talked about this case, facts of this case, fate of co-accused and such related issues. By that alone, it cannot be concluded that, they committed breach of the condition imposed,” the court held.
The Court emphasised that the co-accused frequently met inside and outside the courtroom during the hearing of the case. They cannot be said to have committed any breach of that specific bail condition, as above. Hence, merely because a venue of the meeting/gathering of the accused changed, they cannot be said to have committed breach of the bail condition, Judge Chakor S Baviskar reasoned.
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The NIA stated in its application that the Press Club meeting was held with the aim to propagate the ideology of the banned CPI (Maoist) organization. Further, the agency argued that the accused gathered to deliberate upon the future course of action for spreading the “Urban Naxal” movement.
The four accused strongly denied these allegations, stating that the discussions only revolved around prison life, health conditions, and the future legal course of their co-accused.
The judge found no acceptable evidence to back the NIA’s claims. He noted that the CCTV footage of the event lacked audio, and therefore, it could not be concluded that the accused discussed the proscribed organization’s ideology.
Even though the applications were rejected, the judge issued a warning to the accused to take proper care and caution to avoid the possibility of breaching any bail conditions. “As a matter of caution, since the accused are well aware of the bail condition imposed, seeing other accused to have gathered at that function at the terrace of the Mumbai Press Club, to avoid further complications, the accused could and should have recused from there without being indulged in further function,” Judge Chakor S Baviskar said.
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The Bhima Koregaon case concerns allegations of Maoist links and a broader conspiracy behind the violence that occurred near Pune on January 1, 2018. Sixteen persons were arrested in the case, nine initially by Pune Police in 2018 and seven later by the NIA after it took over the probe.
Of the 16, Jesuit priest and activist Father Stan Swamy died in custody in 2021. All the accused have secured bail from the Supreme Court and Bombay High Court. Charges in the case are yet to be framed, and trial is yet to begin.
Special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty appeared for the NIA. Advocate R Satyanarayanan appeared for Rao. Advocates Yug Mohit Chaudhry and Wahab Khan appeared for Bharadwaj.
