Researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, were released on bail from a Navi Mumbai prison on Friday, more than six years after they were arrested. The duo walked out of the Taloja jail after completing bail formalities before the special NIA court, over a fortnight after they were granted bail by the Bombay High Court. The HC granted bail to Wilson and Dhawale on January 8, noting they had been in jail since 2018 and the trial in the case, in which anti-terror act UAPA has been invoked, was yet to start. Apart from Dhawale and Wilson, 14 other activists and academicians were arrested in the case. Eight of them have been granted bail till now, with one, Mahesh Raut, still in jail as the appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against his bail is pending before the Supreme Court. Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, one of the accused, died in 2021 while lodged in judicial custody. The case pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima, a village outside Pune city, the next day. The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists. The NIA later took over the probe.
The Bombay High Court has granted bail to researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. The court noted that they had been in jail since 2018 and the trial was yet to start. The court said the two had spent more than six years in jail as under-trial prisoners. The NIA, the prosecution agency, did not seek a stay to the HC order. Eight other activists have been granted bail in the case, which pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017.
The lawyer attached a digital forensic report from a Massachusetts-based forensic firm Arsenal Digital which mentioned that a hacker hacked Rona Wilson's laptop and planted 10 letters right before Wilson's arrest.
The analysis showed that two backups of the iPhone 6s belonging to Wilson had digital traces showing infection by the Pegasus surveillance tool, which its developer, the Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group, has said has been licensed only to government agencies.
While the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought a stay on the operation of the bail order so as to appeal before the Supreme Court, the HC refused the request, stating that Babu has been in jail for over five years.
'We have been fighting to treat political prisoners differently.' 'Except for Hyderabad and Kolkata, the concept of keeping political prisoners separate doesn't exist in India.'
'Investigating agencies are not acting as independent authorities; they have stopped being neutral.'
Prolonged incarceration without trial amounts to infringement of the right to life under the Constitution, the Bombay high court said while urging a special court to expedite the trial in the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
"Over 50 files were created on Swamy's hard drive, including incriminating documents that fabricated links between him and the Maoist insurgency," the report said.
The case pertains to the organisation of Elgar Parishad in Pune on December 31, 2017 which promoted enmity between various caste groups and led to violence, resulting in the loss of life and property and statewide agitation in Maharashtra, an NIA spokesperson said.
Will the latest development see a marked break from the way the case has been going?
'The State has played with their lives. Arsenal proved the machines were hacked and false evidence implanted with false files and letters.'
United States digital forensics firm Arsenal Consulting claimed that evidence had been 'planted' on electronic devices of some accused persons in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case
The larger conspiracy of Communist Party of India-Maoists was to overthrow the democratic system in the country, and the accused were working in that direction, the chargesheet claimed.
Kabir Kala Manch activists had allegedly made provocative speeches leading to violence at Koregaon Bhima in the district, according to an FIR registered at Vishrambaug police station after the event.
'Shoma didn't have the luxury of time. She was already suffering from so many ailments.'
The letters were reportedly recovered after the anti-Naxal operations in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, in which 39 Maoists were killed, in April.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the actual involvement of Gonsalves and Ferreira in any terrorist act has not surfaced from any third-party communications.
'If I got more work, I would do even more! Recently, I did the Tanishq ad.' 'I keep working because I am fit. I love acting, that is my relaxation.'
Justice Sadhana Jadhav of the Bombay high court has recused herself from hearing a bunch of petitions about the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, the third judge of the HC to do so this year.
The court, however, extended the interim protection from arrest granted to them for a period of four weeks so that they can approach the Supreme Court in appeal.
The special court judge D E Kothalikar has asked the national probe agency to file its reply on the matter on November 26.
The case relates to Elgar Parishad, a conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. Pune Police had alleged that it had been backed by Maoists, and provocative speeches made there led to caste violence near Bhima-Koregaon war memorial the next day.
Poet-activist Varavara Rao, 81, is the only accused in the case to have secured an interim bail. The Bombay high court had in February this year granted Rao conditional bail for six months considering his medical condition. Rao had been in jail since his arrest in August 2018.
According to a media report published on Saturday, only one of the outfits to which eight of the arrested activists belonged was declared as unlawful.
Some of the letters exchanged between the arrested activists spoke of planning 'some big action' which would attract attention, Singh said.
Bhima Koregaon represents what the government can do in India against well meaning people who speak up against atrocities, who stand up for the weak and the dispossessed and for this reason alone as seen as enemies of the State and kept in prison for as long as the government can manage. So long as the rest of us do not speak up against this misbehaviour by the State, so long as we forget about those who have been made its victims, this behaviour will continue, asserts Aakar Patel.
Navlakha, Teltumbde and several other activists have been booked by the Pune Police for their alleged Maoist links and several other charges following the violence at Koregaon Bhima village in Pune district on January 1, 2018.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the Bombay high court on Thursday that the agency has denied the claims of tampering of electronic evidence in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists Links case that were made by a United States-based forensic firm.
Special Judge D E Kothalikar, assigned to hear cases of the NIA, had, on February 14, rejected the bail plea of Hany Babu, and the detailed order was made available on Monday.
The Pune Police had moved the court Saturday for extension of the 90-day period for filing chargesheet against the five persons, citing fresh arrests in the case.
On Wednesday, when Babu's plea came up before a bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and VG Bisht, the bench recused itself from hearing it without citing any reason.
Eight activists accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, who were denied default bail by the Bombay High Court earlier this month, told the HC on Thursday that they will file review petitions against the order which was based on a "factual error".
They also demanded action against officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is conducting a probe into the Elgar Parishad case, and former superintendent of the Taloja jail.
'These charges of the prosecution will fall to the ground and I am 100 per cent sure of that.'
The law permits a person to approach the police or a magistrate to lodge a complaint and get their grievances addressed, the court noted.
'We urge you to take remedial measures to address this blatant injustice pending withdrawal of the case against them,' the MPs write.
"How can the police do this? The matter is sub judice. The Supreme Court is seized of the matter. In such cases, revealing information pertaining to the case is wrong," Justice Bhatkar said.
Special judge DE Kothalikar, who rejected Swamy's bail plea on Monday, said in his order, which was made available on Tuesday, that based on the material on record it seemed Swamy was a member of banned Maoist organisation.
"We see no reason to interfere with the high court order," said a bench of Justices U U lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi, refusing to consider the submissions raised by the NIA which had moved the apex court against the December 1 order.
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