08-Jan-2025 08:19 PM
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Mumbai, Jan 8 (Reporter) The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to two accused in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case.
A bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Kamal R Khata granted bail to the two on furnishing personal bond of Rs 1 lakh along with sureties of the same amount each.
The case involves arrests of activists and political leaders for allegedly inciting violence during a commemoration event in Pune in 2017.
According to police, all the arrested activists had links with the Maoists, who backed Elgar Parishad event held in Pune on 31 December 2017.
The two activists Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale were granted bail on the grounds that they are languishing in jail from prolonged periods.
Both of them were arrested in 2018.
While granting bail, the court held that there were over 300 witnesses in the case and the trial was unlikely to commence or conclude in the near future. It said that charges are not yet framed in the case. So far, seven of 16 accused in the case are out on bail.
The court was hearing pleas by Wilson and Dhawale seeking to quash the chargesheet, claiming that charges levelled were based on material. The bench refused to go into merits of the case and granted them bail citing long incarceration since 2018.
The judges told the prosecution that if it heard the matter on merit, it would make certain observations. However, after NIA lawyers urged the bench not to make any observations on merit, it referred to the Supreme Court Judgement in KA Najeeb case and granted them bail...////...