Bhima Koregaon: Pune Sessions Court Rejects Bail Pleas Of Six Accused In The Case [Read Order]

The Pune Sessions Court on Wednesday rejected bail applications of six accused arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. The said applications were filed by Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhavale, Varavara Rao, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson.

Additional Sessions Judge SR Navandar passed the order and in light of the Bombay High Court's judgement dated October 15 denying bail to three other accused, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, all the arrested accused in the case have now been denied bail.

On Monday, Justice PD Naik of the High Court asked activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha to seek bail from the sessions court and passed directions for the matter to be decided expeditiously. Consequently, Navlakha withdrew his anticipatory bail application filed before the High Court and moved the same before Pune Sessions Court. Navlakha was granted interim protection from arrest by the Supreme Court which is set to expire on November 11. His name is not mentioned in the charge sheet filed by Pune police and the pre-arrest bail plea will be heard on Thursday.

All the accused have been booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code including sedition by the Pune police, who have alleged that the accused were responsible for inciting the caste-based violence which took place at Koregaon Bhima in Pune on January 1, 2018.

The accused are mostly activists, academicians or lawyers. While some were arrested in June 2018, others were arrested in August last year and have been in jail since.