The Pune sessions court will hear the bail pleas of human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling and Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen after the Supreme Court’s decision on the house arrests of the five other activists arrested by the Pune Police on August 28.
The court of special judge K.D. Wadane on Thursday reserved the hearings on the bail pleas along with the applications of the Pune Police seeking the transfer of the activists arrested on June 6 to separate jails from Yerawada prison, where they are currently lodged.
Ms. Sen, Mr. Gadling, Dalit activist-publisher Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson were arrested on June 6 for their alleged links with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the Bhima-Koregaon clashes. On August 28, in a second countrywide crackdown, the Pune Police arrested activists Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha on similar charges. They have been under house arrest since August 29.
Defence lawyers for the activists arrested on June 6 told the court on Thursday that they would prefer to wait for the bail pleas to be heard after the apex court has passed its decision on the August 28 arrests.
Defence counsel Pratap Vitankar said, “A collective decision among advocates for the defence was reached since a parallel case, which is proceeding at the Supreme Court, will affect the bail pleas of Mr. Gadling, Ms. Sen and those activists arrested along with them.”
Directions to jail officials
Meanwhile, Judge K.D. Wadane expressly directed jail authorities to provide the accused with books, including those given to them by their families. He told the prison authorities to permit Mr. Wilson’s relatives to meet him, and approved Mr. Dhawale’s treatment at Sassoon General Hospital. He also directed the officials to permit the activists to receive clothes from their relatives.
On September 6 and September 14, the prosecution had sought a postponement on the bail hearings of Ms. Sen and Mr. Gadling.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar had earlier moved the court to shift the five arrested activists to separate jails, citing security issues at Yerawada Jail as the reason for the proposed transfer of the accused.
All five were arrested during a multi-city crackdown conducted by a team of the Pune Police over the contentious Elgaar Parishad held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31 and the Bhima-Koregaon riots that erupted the next day. They were later booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
