E-Paper
Bhima Koregaon trial: Anand Teltumde’s pre-arrest bail plea rejected by Pune court
Pune police have asked the activist to surrender if he believes in the Constitution of the country
On Friday a special UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967) court in Pune rejected the anticipatory bail application of prominent Dalit scholar and Anand Teltumde, an accused in a case pertaining to Elgar Parishad held in Pune in December 2017. The parishad had preceded the caste riots at Bhima Koregaon in January, 2018.
Special judge KD Vadane rejected Teltumbde’s bail plea and observed that prima facie there was “sufficient material” collected by Pune police showing the involvement of applicant in the offence.
Minutes after the court turned down Teltumbdes bail plea, the Pune police asked him to surrender. Joint Commissioner of Police ( law and order ) Shivaji Bodkhe said that Teltumbde should surrender before the police if he believes in the Constitution of the country. “His anticipatory bail has been rejected by the Pune court and we are studying the order. Based on the order, Prof Teltumbde will be arrested soon ,” said Bodkhe.
The judge rejected the plea on the basis of documents submitted in a sealed envelope by investigating officer Shivaji Pawar through special public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar on Thursday. He said that these documents showed prima facie that the prosecution has some material to show identity of the petitioner as Anand or Comrade Anand as mentioned in the documents, from which, it can be revealed active role and participation of present applicant.
Vadane in his order cited Bombay High Court’s recent judgement in which the Bhima Koregaon violence was termed as a ‘deep-rooted conspiracy’ with ‘extremely serious repercussions’. The High Court made these observations while turning down Teltumbde’s pre-arrest bail plea in its order on December 23 last year.
“In my view, prima facie, there is sufficient material collected by investigating officer to show involvement of present applicant in the alleged commission of offence. Moreover, investigation in respect of present applicant is at very crucial state. Moreover, it appears that custodial interrogation of applicant is necessary for the grounds mentioned in say filed by investigating officer. Therefore, applicant is not entitled to be released on anticipatory bail,” said judge Vadane in his six-page order.
The prosecution had accused Dalit writer of creating ‘instability’ in the state using insurgent activities, with the intention to destabilise the government.
While opposing Teltumde’s appeal, public prosecutor Ujwala Pawar had argued that there was ‘incriminating’ material against the Dalit writer who had been booked along with other activists for their alleged links with the banned outfit CPI (Maoist) and ‘aggregating violence at Koregaon Bhima’ last year.
She had stated that professor Teltumbde, along with other co-accused in pursuance of a criminal conspiracy had committed unlawful activities for the outlawed Communist Party of India (CPI) outfit and its frontal organisation, viz, Anuradha Ghandy memorial committee.
The Supreme Court on January 14 refused to quash the Pune police’s FIR against the civil rights activist, but said that Teltumbde could seek regular bail from the trial court in the meantime and extended the interim protection from the arrest granted to him by the Bombay High Court by four weeks.
Appearing for Teltumbde, advocate Rohan Nahar had questioned the efficacy of the documents submitted by the police before the court. “The police have booked him in a false case as he had written scathing articles against the state which did not go down with the establishment ,” he had stated.
