Human rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj has filed her bail application before the sessions court in Pune on Thursday. Bharadwaj moved her bail application through her defence counsel Yug Chaudhary. On Wednesday, the habeas corpus petition filed by her in the Punjab and Haryana High Court was withdrawn after the Supreme Court order which gave time to all the accused to seek legal remedy from the local courts.
Lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, Telugu poet P Varavara Rao, Civil Liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested on August 28 in countrywide raids for alleged links with Left-wing rebels called Naxals or Maoists.
However, after a petition by historian Romila Thapar that linked the police crackdown to the strong views of the activists, the Supreme Court had ordered the police to place the five under house arrest rather than send them to jail. The Maharashtra police had arrested the five activists on August 28 in connection with an FIR lodged following a public meeting -- ‘Elgaar Parishad’ -- held at the historic Shaniwar Wada on December 31 last year that had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village in the state.
The Supreme Court on September 28 had rejected a SIT probe in the matter,. The apex court in a 2:1 judgment stated that the five accused cannot choose which agency will investigate their case. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Deepak Mishra however extended the house arrest of the five activists by four more weeks. The court stated that there was prima facie material to show their links with banned Maoist outfit.
{{/usCountry}}The Supreme Court on September 28 had rejected a SIT probe in the matter,. The apex court in a 2:1 judgment stated that the five accused cannot choose which agency will investigate their case. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Deepak Mishra however extended the house arrest of the five activists by four more weeks. The court stated that there was prima facie material to show their links with banned Maoist outfit.
{{/usCountry}}Bail application
A city court will be hearing the bail application of advocate Surendra Gadling, activists Sudheer Dhawale, Rona Wilson, former Prime Minister’s Rural Development fellow Mahesh Raut and academician Prof Shoma Sen.The police had arrested them during simultaneous raids on June 6 in connection with Elgaar Parishad probe. Gadling and Sen had moved their bail applications earlier before the other accused.