Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to two accused in the Elgar Parishad Maoist links case — activists Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor — on grounds of parity.
A bench headed by Justice Ajey Gadkari noted that several other accused in the case have been granted bail on the ground of long incarceration and the possibility of trial not commencing in the near future.
“Hence on the ground of parity, the two appellants (Gorkhe and Gaichor) too deserve to be released on bail,” the court said.
The court has directed the their release on furnishing bail bonds of Rs one lakh each and they have been directed to the attend the office of the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) office once a month.
Gorkhe and Gaichor were arrested in September 2020 and are presently lodged at the Taloja prison. They are both accused of being active members of banned CPI (Maoist) group.
Sixteen persons have been arrested in the case, including prominent lawyers, activists, and academics accused of furthering the cause of the banned CPI (Maoist).
All accused, except advocate Surendra Gadling, are now out on bail. Those granted bail include Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Shoma Sen, Gautam Navlakha, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Jyoti Jagtao and Mahesh Raut.
Priest and tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, 84, died while in custody in July 2021 waiting for the trial to begin.
About The Case
The case relates to inciting people and giving provocative speeches during an Elgar Parishad event organised by the Kabir Kala Manch at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which allegedly promoted enmity between various caste groups and led to violence resulting in loss of life and property and statewide agitation in Maharashtra.
Initially, the Pune police registered a case in 2018 alleging that the accused were involved in provocative speeches triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima in Pune district the next day. The case was later taken over by the NIA.
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