Activists arrest - Bail plea of Sudha Bhardwaj, Vernon Gonsalves: veracity of letters questioned
The lawyers questioned the authenticity of the letters based on the fact that their clients did not know Marathi but the letters had Marathi references in them.
The bail pleas for arrested lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj and social activist Vernon Gonsalves were heard in a Pune court on Tuesday, which also heard the bail plea of activist Arun Ferreira on Monday. While Gonsalves was represented by advocate Dhairyasheel Patil, advocate Yug Chaudhury appeared for Bhardwaj.
Presenting five grounds for seeking bail, Chaudhury listed lack of grounds for the arrest in the panchnama presented to Bhardwaj, questionable legality of transit remand sought by the Pune police in Delhi when Bhardwaj was arrested, lack of evidence while invoking Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a case of causing public unrest and fractured Supreme Court verdict in transfer of investigation case.
“Why have they not submitted the letters in the court? The letters are undated, unsigned, unverified, uncorroborated, typed and found from someone else (not Bhardwaj),” said advocate Chaudhury.
Both the lawyers questioned the authenticity of the letters based on the fact that their clients did not know Marathi but the letters had Marathi references in them. While alleging forgery, advocate Chaudhury, said, “Indian Association for People's Lawyers (IAPL, Bhardwaj’s organisation) is spelt wrongly in the letters. Letter called it IPL, the premier cricket league. Maybe the person forging it was watching cricket while doing it.”
He also said that IAPL was not mentioned as an alleged front for the banned organisation Communist Party of India (Marxist) in front of the Supreme Court. Counting the accolades bestowed upon Bhardwaj by the government and courts, Chaudhury said, “How is a 60-year-old professor of law going to make bombs and set booby traps?”
During his presentation, advocate Patil mentioned that the letters were addressed to someone called ‘comrade Prakash’. He cited a case from Gadchiroli during the hearing of which it was presented that Sai Baba is generally referred to as ‘Prakash’. During his almost two-and-a-half hour presentation, advocate Patil also read out a Section of a 1942 published book called The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht while questioning the literary prowess of the political entities which were against the Elgar Parishad and the police. “They have not read poetry from a world-famous poet and playwright,” he said, while mentioning that one of the speakers at the Elgar Parishad had narrated a Marathi translation of a poem about rising in rebellion.
While a major portion of advocate Patil’s presentation and a considerable portion of advocate Chaudhury’s argument tried to find a crutch for their plea in the Supreme Court judgement by justice Dhananjay Chandrachud, they both questioned the veracity of the letters in their own ways.
Taking further help from the decision of central agencies, Chaudhury said that since UAPA offences are scheduled under the national investigation agency (NIA) Act, the NIA can take over cases from any state if the agency so pleases. However, the agency has not yet chosen to take over an investigation that had, in its wake, unravelled an alleged plot of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assassination, as it may not have found any ground in the allegations levelled by the Pune police.
Investigation officer assistant commissioner of police Shivaji Pawar along with district government pleader (DGP) Ujjwala Pawar were present and took meticulous notes of both the arguments that lasted for at least two hours each. DGP Pawar will present her argument in the bail plea of Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves on October 19 and in the case of Sudha Bhardwaj on October 20.