Bhima-Koregaon violence: Why can’t FIRs against activists be quashed, asks Bombay high court

The bench said the state is yet to produce evidence that would establish the role of the trio in the incident

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday directed the state to file by December 14 an affidavit stating the grounds on which it opposed the quashing of FIRs against activists Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha and Stan Swamy in the Bhima-Koregaon case.

A bike is burnt in Mumbai in January 2018 after the Bhima-Koregaon violence. (HT FILE)

A division bench of justices BP Dharmadhikari and SV Kotwal was hearing petitions filed by the three activists, seeking quashing of FIRs and criminal proceedings against them.

Their advocates Dr Yug Choudhary, Devyani Kulkarni and Mihir Desai reiterated their arguments that the investigators did not have sufficient evidence against their clients, and demanded their names be removed from the charge sheet.

However, public prosecutor Aruna Pai said while the state had gathered voluminous evidence against the accused, it could not be revealed as it would prejudice the probe.

Pai said the state was willing to share the evidence with the court through a confidential report, but not with the accused till the probe was completed.

Unconvinced, the bench sought to know the extent of investigation completed, as the evidence now ran into 5,000 pages. The bench said as the state was yet to produce evidence that would establish the role of the trio in the incident, it was extending the interim relief granted to the trio till the next hearing (December 14).