Bhima Koregaon case: Bombay HC denies bail to Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed bail applications filed by rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves in Bhima Koregoan case.

All three activists are currently lodged at Yerwada Central Jail over 14 months now.

A single judge bench of Justice Sarang VKotwal after hearing pleas of the three civil liberties activists for almost two months reserved the order on October 7.

The court rejected all three applications filed by activists who were implicated for alleged links with banned Maoist group and for provoking violence at the Koregaon Bhima after an Elgar Parishad meeting held on December 31, 2017.

In October 2018, a special judge in Pune had rejected the bail application filed by the three activists after which they moved to the Bombay High Court.

Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and provisions of Indian Penal Code by the Pune police.

Earlier, on September 13 the Bombay High court had turned down Gautam Navlakha plea seeking to quash the FIR filed against him by the Pune Police in the Bhima Koregoan case. However, on October 4 the Supreme Court had extended the interim protection granted to Navlakha in the Bhima Koregona case till October 15.

Also read: [In-Depth] #BhimaKoregaonArrests: Anatomy of a clampdown and the history of a long oppression