Bhima Koregaon case: Bombay HC grants bail to Sudha Bharadwaj; no relief for other accused

In a big development on Wednesday, the Bombay High Court granted default bail to lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case. Arrested on August 28, 2018, she has been lodged at the Byculla Women's Jail in Mumbai since September 2018. On August 4 this year, a division bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar had reserved its order on her bail plea wherein she contended that Additional Sessions Judge KD Vadane of the Pune Sessions Court who had taken cognisance of the police charge sheet in 2019, was not authorised to do so.

Pointing out that only a Special Court has the exclusive jurisdiction to try UAPA offences, her lawyer Yug Chaudhry cites RTI replies from the HC to show that Vadane was not a designated special judge. However, Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni and Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh submitted that the cases under the UAPA would be transferred to a Special Court only after the NIA is entrusted with the investigation. While the Special NIA court will now decide the conditions of her bail on December 8, the HC rejected the bail pleas of 8 other co-accused persons. The lawyer-activist was earlier refused bail on health grounds. 

What is the Bhima Koregaon case? 

Violence had erupted at Koregaon-Bhima village in Pune district on January 1, 2018, where supporters had gathered to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. This resulted in the death of one person and left several injured. Subsequently, the Pune police arrested activists such as Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, and Vernon Gonsalves, Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale and P Varavara Rao for allegedly inciting the Bhima Koregoan violence through their speech at the Elgar Parishad meeting on December 31, 2017. 

The charges filed by the police include 'conspiracy to assassinate PM Narendra Modi', 'overthrow the government', 'waging war against the Government of India' under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Also, it has been alleged that some of the arrested individuals are active members of the banned CPI (Maoists) party. In January 2020, the case was transferred to the NIA.