19.8.2022, Thursday;

The Supreme Court on Thursday denied bail to an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and directed the National Investigation Agency to begin its trial in the 2018 violence even as the probe agency claimed not all the accused have been arrested.

According to the NIA, 16 of 20 accused people have been arrested so far.

The top court ordered the counter-terrorist task force to begin the trial against those arrested and initiate steps to declare those absconding as proclaimed offenders.

A bench of justices Uday Umesh Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat passed the directives while hearing the bail petitioner of Vernon Gonsalves, who pointed out that he has been in jail since August 28, 2018 and with the trial yet to begin, he should be let out of jail just like other accused in the case.

On August 10, the top court had granted bail to another accused, P Varavara Rao, on medical grounds. Another accused, Sudha Bharadwaj got bail in December.

The bench on Thursday dismissed Gonsalves’s plea, noting that his case was not similar to that of other accused as he already stood convicted in a 2011 case under the stringent provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

“You are not strictly an innocent person. So, you cannot be counted with someone who can be given the benefit of doubt,” the bench said.

“In normal circumstances, we give benefit of doubt to first time offenders. In your case, you have been convicted under UAPA. That means you are part of a banned organisation. This finding is not by the police but by a judicial authority,” it added.

The top court, however, asked the petitioner to wait for three months, by when, the special NIA court in Greater Mumbai would decide whether charges need to be framed against the petitioner.

The Bhima Koregaon case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches made at an Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017 which, police claimed, triggered violence the next day near Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

Gonsalves was arrested on August 28, 2018, over alleged links with banned terrorist outfit, the Communist Party of India (Maoist), according to the NIA. He is facing charges under various provisions of Indian Penal Code and UAPA and is lodged in Taloja prison.

Appearing for the NIA, additional solicitor general (ASG) S V Raju informed the top court that 16 people were so far arrested on the basis of evidence pointing out their alleged links with CPI(Maoist).

Of the 16, Father Stan Swamy died in custody last year, he said. Swamy died amid his fight for bail on health grounds.