Bhima Koregaon Case : NIA Opposes Surendra Gadling's Bail Plea To Attend Mother's Death Anniversary

The NIA called Gadling's challenge a "gross abuse" of the process of law and the Court's precious time.Gadling was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case three years ago on June 6, 2018, and booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Under Section 21 (4) of the NIA Act, Gadling's appeal assails Special NIA Judge DE Kothalikar's order , refusing him temporary bail after his mother's demise due to covid last year.

While deciding the application in September 2020, nearly a month after Gadling's mother passed away, the judge said he might not be required for the funeral rites due to the lapse in time.

However, in his affidavit before the High Court, Gadling said that his family members were either hospitalised due to Covid; they were under home isolation or couldn't travel due to covid restrictions at the time of his mother's death in August 2020.

Coupled with the fact that the special court denied him temporary bail, the funeral rites, rituals, and the condolence meeting remain pending to date, Gadling says. The rituals include cooling his mother's ashes in the Bina River, 25 kms from Nagpur, following a three-day condolence meet.

He adds that the family has decided to perform these rituals on the mother's first death anniversary on August 15, or when he is available, as this is about the emotional bond between mother and son, the affidavit states.

In a response affidavit, Superintendent of Police, NIA, Vikram Khalate said, "the clock cannot be set in reverse motion." Gadling's reasons for temporary bail, on account of his mother's unfortunate death, do not survive and he was not allowed to assign new reasons in an appeal.

Khalate said the "ground on which bail is sought is untenable for the very reason that it could be performed by anyone from his family."

"The impugned judgement was passed 10 months ago and that assuming without admitting that there was a reason for making the application at that time, today the same reason does not exist.Appeal is a gross abuse of the process of law and precious time of this Hon'ble Court deserves to be dismissed at the very outset, without any further waste of judicial time."

The matter will now be heard on July 28, 2021.

Gadling faces charges under sections 121, 121A, 124A, 153A, 505(1)(b), 117, 120b r/w 34 of the IPC and sections 13,16,17,18,18-B,20,38,39 and 40 of the UAPA along with 14 other activists. Father Stan Swamy, the 16th accused to be arrested, passed away on July 5.

Bhima Koregaon Case

The Bhima Koregaon battle was fought between 25,000 mighty Peshwa army and 500 British soldiers, including people from the Mahar (Dalit) community. The names of martyrs in the war are inscribed in the memorial by the British Army back then.

The hundreds of people visiting the war memorial at Bhima Koregaon were attacked on January 1, 2018, after violence erupted. They were mainly from the Dalit community, and one died in the stone-pelting.

An FIR was registered regarding the violence the same day. Another FIR by right-wing activist Tushar Damgude filed on January 8, 2018, and was pursued. The houses of several activists, including Rona Wilson's and advocate Surendra Gadling were searched on April 17, 2018. It was alleged that the violence at Bhima Koregaon resulted from inflammatory speeches held at the Elgaar Parishad conference on December 31, 2017.

The scope of the investigation was eventually widened, with the Pune police claiming retrieval of incriminating documents in the form of electronic records. This included an email written by a certain 'R' to Comrade Prakash on April 18, 2017 talking of a "Rajiv Gandhi-type" operation. The email was part of the documents investigated by Arsenal earlier.

The 15 people accused in the case are as follows — Jyoti Raghoba Jagtap, Sagar TatyaramGorkhe, Ramesh MurlidharGaichor, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu.

Most of the accused in the case were neither named in the FIR over the violence nor present during the 2017 event.