The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday rejected the medical bail applications filed by senior citizens Shoma Sen, Anand Teltumbde , Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves.
The four are among those accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case and are said to be suffering from several co-morbidities.
Special Judge D.E. Kothalikar rejected the pleas by relying on recommendations from the high-powered committee set up to decongest prisons owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the same court extended the interim bail granted to Rona Wilson also an accused in the case. He was directed to be released from September 13 to September 27 to go to his home at Kerala and attend a mass for his late father. Mr. Wilson will now return to Taloja Central Jail on September 30.
Prof. Teltumbde, 70, is a professor and was the Managing Director and CEO of Petronet India Limited. He suffers from chronic bronchitic asthma, chronic cervical spondylitis, supraspinatus tendinopathy and prostatomegaly. He surrendered before NIA Mumbai on April 14, 2020.
Mr. Gonsalves, 69, is a writer and a columnist and suffers from hypertension, high blood pressure and piles. Mr. Navlakha, 67, is a civil rights scholar and journalist and a patient of colonic polyposis, chronic gastritis, and hypertension. Mr. Gonsalves was arrested on August 28, 2018, and Mr. Navlakha surrendered before NIA Delhi on April 14, 2020. All three are lodged at Taloja Central Jail.
Prof. Sen, 63, is the former head of department of English at Nagur University. She filed her application stating that she multiple ailments including osteoarthritis, glaucoma and high blood pressure. She was arrested on June 6, 2018, and is incarcerated at Byculla Central Jail.
On May 29, 2020, the special court had rejected the medical plea of 61-year-old trade unionist and advocate Sudha Bharadwaj who suffers from diabetes, blood pressure and ischemic heart disease.
On October 23, the same court had rejected the medical bail plea of Father Stan Swamy, 83, who died later from severe co-morbidities.
