New Delhi: Realising that 12 of 13 accused in the 2017 Elgar Parishad case are languishing in jails without trial since 2018 or 2020, the Supreme Court directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) trial court to frame the charges and hear their discharge pleas within three months.
While dealing with a petition from accused Vernon Gonsalves, a bench of Chief Justice-designate Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Ravindra Bhat rejected Gonsalves' bail since he was also convicted earlier in a 2011 case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Rejecting the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) statement that the delay resulted as four of the 20 accused are yet to be nabbed, the court said these four be declared proclaimed offenders and let the Bhima Koregao case trial begin without any further delay.
"In normal circumstances, we give benefit of doubt to the first time ofenders. But in your case, you have been convicted under UAPA. That means you are part of a banned organisation. This finding is not by the police, but by a judicial authority," the bench said.
The case relates to the alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017.
According to the police, the event triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts.
The Pune police, which probed the case before its transfer to NIA, had claimed the conclave was backed by the maoists belonging to the banned terror outfit CPI (Maoist).
The accused have been charged with waging a war against the nation, allegedly planning to kill Prime Minister Modi, being active members of the banned terror outfit CPI (Maoist), criminal conspiracy, and indulging in acts with an intent to strike terror in the minds of people using explosive substances.
They were charged with various provisions of UAPA and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Of the 16 persons arrested from different parts of the country, 82-year old Telugu poet Varavara Rao from Hyderabad was granted medical bail by the top court only on August 10 while Delhi's advocate Sudha Bharadwaj was granted the default bail by the Bombay High Court in December 2021.
Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, 83, who was arrested in October 2020, died in judicial custody on July 5, 2021.
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