Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Bhima-Koregaon case

financialexpress.com:

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, charged with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, reports Bar and Bench.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia, while dictating the order, said that while the charges against the two accused are serious, however, that alone cannot be the reason for denying bail.

“Allegations are serious but that does not mean bail cannot be granted. While forming our opinion of granting bail, we noted that he was earlier convicted of offences under 1967 Act. Hence, we propose to impose appropriate conditions while on bail. We set aside impugned order and release the appellant on bail,” the Court directed.

The top court, however, imposed certain restrictions on Gonsalves and Ferreira, which included not leaving Maharashtra, surrendering their passports.

They must also inform an National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer about their address, and their mobile number should be shared with NIA and location must be on at all times, the court said.

Both of them have been lodged in Mumbai’s Taloja jail since 2018 and had approached the Supreme Court after their bail pleas were rejected by the Bombay High Court. The duo argued that the High Court had denied them bail although the same was granted to co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj.

The case pertains to the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which according to the Pune police was funded by Maoists. The alleged inflammatory speeches made there led to violence at the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune the next day, police had said, that resulted in the death of one man and injured several others.

In August 2018, activists