The Bombay HC has today rejected the bail pleas of alleged Urban Naxals Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. As per reports, Justice SV Kotwal pronounced the judgement to a packed courtroom in presence of the lawyers representing the three accused.
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The bail plea was moved in the month of August and the court had begun hearing on August 27. The court had reserved the judgement on October 7.
Advocate Mihir Desai appeared on behalf of Vernon Gonsalves, Dr.Yug Chaudhary appeared for Sudha Bharadwaj, and Sudeep Pasbola had represented Arun Ferreira. The accused were booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act by the Maharashtra police after it began raids in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
Additional Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai had objected to all three bail petitions. The Pune Police had also stated in court that all three of the accused have been involved with organisations acting as the fronts of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The four organisations are, namely, Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC) and Anuradha Gandhi Memorial (AGM).
Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted interim protection from arrest to another alleged Urban Naxal Gautam Navlakha. Navlakha had appealed against an earlier Bombay HC order refusing to quash his FIR.
Bharadwaj, Gonsalves and Ferreira had been locked in Pune’s Yerawada Jail for almost 14 months. They had moved to the Bombay HC after a special judge in Pune had rejected their bail petitions last year.