Jolt for rights activists

A bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal said the activists – Sudha Bharadwaj, 57, Arun Ferreira, 45, and Vernon Gonsalves, 61, were active members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and were hatching a conspiracy to defeat ‘enemy forces’ i.e. the state machinery, with the help of weapons. The judge noted that the trio was given the responsibility to recruit cadres to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) from urban areas, and more particularly, students. “The literature of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) mentions its objectives and possible methods to achieve these objectives. Two of the important methods are recruiting cadres from urban masses through student unions and providing military training to such cadres,” Justice Kotwal said.

“Important party members, such as the present applicants, were entrusted with the responsibility of recruiting cadres. One of the objectives of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) was defeating ‘enemy forces’ with the use of weapons and by forming the people’s army. The state's armed forces were treated as enemy forces,” Justice Kotwal noted in his judgment.

The bench further referred to the chargesheet filed by Pune Police and said, “There is material in the chargesheet to show that prima facie, the applicants actively worked towards fulfilling the responsibility to recruit cadres.”

The court further said that the probe agency has brought on record, enough material to show prima facie that the applicants were senior active members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and they were on the important committees.

As far as Sudha Bharadwaj was concerned, the bench noted that she was a party to the suggestion that members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) be given packages