Bombay HC denies bail to 3 activists

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday denied bail to activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, arrested by the police in connection with the caste clashes that took place on January 1, 2018, in Bhima Koregaon near Pune.

Justice Sarang Kotwal rejected the bail pleas of Bharadwaj, 57, Gonsalves, 61, and Ferreira, 45, observing that sufficient material and reasonable grounds existed to believe that the accusations made against them were prima facie (based on the first impression) true.

Vishrambaug police station in Pune registered an offence on January 8, 2018 on the basis of a complaint lodged by Tushar Damgude, a builder. He complained that members of Communist Party of India (Maoist) incited violence by creating communal disharmony in Bhima Koregaon.

Violence that broke out on the 200th anniversary of a British-era war left one person dead and 40 more injured.

According to Damgude, members of the Kabir Kala Manch spread hatred through provocative songs, plays and speeches delivered at an event called Elgar Parishad at Shaniwar Wada on December 31, 2017, which gave rise to the widespread violence.

Police conducted searches at residences of various activists and recovered a document titled “Strategy and Tactics of The Indian Revolution” which reflected the motive of the banned terrorist organization, CPI(Maoist): to seize political power by organising a people’s army and by wiping out Indian armed forces through war and establish a “people’s democratic state.”

Police alleged that all the three, Bharadwaj, Gonsalves and Ferreira, were active members of the banned organisation and part of the larger conspiracy. Lawyers for the activists, however, maintained that there was no incriminating evidence connecting them with the violence.

Justice Kotwal rejected the argument, in view of a Supreme Court ruling that the validity of the evidence collected by the police cannot be scrutinized while considering the bail pleas of people booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and in such cases evidence can be evaluated only in a full-fledged trial. The trio was arrested by Pune police along with others in August 2018.