Bombay High Court Grants Bail To Alleged Sanatan Sanstha Member Vaibhav Raut Accused Of Making Bombs To Attack 2018 Sunburn Festival At Pune

The Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad found eight crude bombs in Raut’s house while 12 crude bombs were recovered from a godown along with a diary which detailed his planning and preparation for crude bombs.

However, a division bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse granted bail to Raut mainly on grounds of parity with other co-accused and prolonged incarceration of five years since the trial against him wouldn’t conclude anytime soon.

Another reason the court cited was that crude bombs were seized before Raut’s arrest and not in accordance with Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act.

The court also noted that the house was in Raut’s father’s name and the godown wasn’t in his name either. Except for the handwriting expert’s opinion, there was no corroboration on the diary either.

Prosecutions Case

Raut and others were arrested by the ATS in 2018 and booked under sections 4 and 5 of the Explosives Substances Act, 1908; Section 9(B) of the Explosives Act, 1884; Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code; and section 16, 18 and 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,1967.

According to the prosecution, Raut and other accused are part of a conspiracy to destabilize India and destroy the sovereignty and integrity of India by indulging in some terrorist activity.

The ATS claimed Raut was an active member Sanatan Sanstha along with the others. The object of SS is stated to be to form a ‘Hindu Rashtra’, by secretly forming a terrorist gang within the State of Maharashtra and adjoining states, the court noted.

The ATS further alleged that to achieve SS’s objective the accused collected or prepared crude bombs and stored explosives in his house and in the godown, they also recced places. One of the allegations was that SS aimed to prevent screening of movies, holding of western cultural programmes like Sunburn festival in Pune as they received it to be against the tenets of Hinduism.

However, the 2018 Sunburn festival was cancelled after the police received a tip off and recovered a huge cache of crude bombs.

Arguments

In his bail plea, Raut’s advocate Sana Raees Khan argued that three other accused in the case have been already granted bail. Khan argued that even the godown from where the crude bombs were recovered was owned by someone else and not Raut.

The prosecution relied greatly on the diary recovered from Raut which was a match with the handwriting expert’s report.

Observations

The bench while relying on an earlier order granting bail to a co-accused noted that Sanatan Sanstha was not an organisation that was banned or declared as a terrorist outfit under UAPA.

“Admittedly, the house does not stand in the name of the appellant but stands in the name of his father,” the court said about recovery of crude bombs.

It added, “Prosecution has not been able to show that the contents of the diary are corroborated by any other statements of any witnesses or any other document on record.”

Finally the bench said that the prosecution has managed to examine only 4 of the 417 witnesses cited by it. “It is pertinent to note that the minimum sentence that can be awarded under the provisions of the UAPA is 5 years and the same can extend upto life imprisonment. The appellant is in custody and had been incarcerated for the last 5 years.”

Moreover, the accused has undertaken not to leave the city or Palghar without the court’s permission.

Accordingly, the court directed Raut to be enlarged on bail on furnishing PR bond in the sum of Rs. 50,000 with one solvent surety in the like amount.

Case Title - Vaibhav Subhash Raut vs The State of Maharashtra (ATS)

Apperances - Ms. Sana Raees Khan a/w Mr. Aniket Pardeshi for the appellant Mr. K. V. Saste APP for the State

Case No- CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 261 OF 2023

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