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Elgar Parishad accused, Sudha Bhardwaj urges court to stop harassment of her visitors
When judge Pande asked her what harassment she was referring to, Bhardwaj said, “This is an open court, is it not? Why cannot my visitors attend the hearing in an open court? Why are they being harassed by the police?”
Sudha Bhardwaj, 58, one of the nine persons arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, appealed to a sessions court here on Monday, raising concerns about “harassment” of her visitors by the police.
“Ask the police to stop harassing my visitors. I do not have any immediate family like parents or husband. I only have a daughter who visits me sometimes. These are my people,” said Bhardwaj to additional sessions judge Ravindra N Pande, who is hearing the case.
When judge Pande asked her what harassment she was referring to, Bhardwaj said, “This is an open court, is it not? Why cannot my visitors attend the hearing in an open court? Why are they being harassed by the police?”
A civil rights activist, Bhardwaj, a lawyer by profession has been a visiting professor at the National Law University, Delhi and providing legal assistance in Chhattisgarh. She was arrested from her house in Faridabad in August 2018 on charges of being an ‘urban Maoist’.
Four people - two men and two women - had come to the court premises to meet Bhardwaj who leads their worker union. The four people were identified as Kalyan Patel, Hemin Patel, a couple who claimed to be from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, and another couple Ramadheen Sahu and Pramila Sahu, who claimed to have come from Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.
“We have known her for 10-15 years now. We are part of a union called the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha. She helps us with union and legal matters,” said Ramadheen Sahu, who said he had travelled for two days to meet Bhardwaj. As Bhardwaj walked into the corridor outside the court, the two women and men approached her. A beaming Bhardwaj greeted them. However, the four people were asked to move away immediately.
The court and jail protocol only allows blood relatives to meet the accused. Therefore, the police asked the four people to produce identification and took them to the court police outpost located at the Shivajinagar court premises. The four were kept in the outpost for almost two hours before assistant commissioner of police Shivaji Pawar, who is investigating the case, arrived and questioned them.
The four people were let off after their names were entered in the register at the police outpost and ACP Pawar had spoken with them.
Bhardwaj was present in court along with eight others accused, including Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferriera, and P Varavara Rao. They were in court for a hearing on the application questioning the power of the court to hear the matter.
However, as the public prosecutor remained absent in court, the matter was posted for the next date.
