Bombay HC Extends Interim Bail Of Anand Teltumbde Till Feb 27

The Bombay High Court today extended till February 27 the interim protection from arrest granted to activist and academic Anand Teltumbde.

While Teltumbde's plea seeking anticipatory bail was listed for hearing Friday, a single bench presided over by Justice N W Sambre adjourned the hearing and extended Teltumbde's protection at the request of the latter's counsel.

Teltumbde is one of the 22 accused in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case.

Pune police has charged Teltumbde and others for various offences, including having links with banned Maoist organisations.

The high court had earlier granted him interim bail till February 22.  

Teltumbde was arrested on February 3 after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by a Pune court, despite a Supreme Court order which granted him interim protection from arrest for four weeks from January 14.

He was released hours later when a city sessions court termed his arrest 'illegal' after noting that the Supreme Court had granted him time till February 11 to exhaust all his legal remedies seeking protection.

He then moved the high court to seek a pre-arrest bail.

According to police, Maoists had supported the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, and the inflammatory speeches there led to violent clashes at the Koregaon Bhima war memorial in the district the next day. 

The police has filed chargesheet against the first five arrested persons in the case – lawyer Surendra Gadling, Dalit rights activist Sudhir Dhawale, prisoners' rights activist Rona Wilson, tribal rights activist and TISS alumnus Mahesh Raut and retired Nagpur professor Soma Sen.

(With PTI inputs)