Sufficient prima facie material against Sudha Bharadwaj, Bombay HC told

Documents., CDR add up to corroborative evidence, says Pune Police

Sudha Bharadwaj

The Pune Police on Thursday submitted before the Bombay High Court that there is sufficient prima facie material to charge lawyer and trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for her alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon violence.

Arguing before a single Bench of Justice S.V. Kotwal, additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai opposed Ms. Bharadwaj’s bail and yet again relied upon documents from another accused Rona Wilson’s laptop and call detail records (CDR) to say all of it added up as “corroborative evidence”.

She said they also show that Ms. Bharadwaj, vice-president of Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) along with another accused Prof Shoma Sen were part of a special women’s meeting at Hyderabad.

The court however pointed out that the CDR has shown that she was in Faridabad. Ms. Pai then said, “investigation is still going on”.

She also read out several letters recovered from Mr. Wilson’s laptop and another accused, advocate Surendra Gadling’s computer that show Ms. Bharadwaj was part of a team to recruit young people.

She said, “IAPL, Anuradha Gandhi Memorial Committee (AGMC), Committee for Release of Political Prisoners, and Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee are frontal organisations of the banned Communist Party of India Maoists (CPI-M)

She mentioned a letter recovered from Mr. Gadling’s computer that was on the letter head of CPI-M. When she read out another letter which was focusing on AGMC, the court said, “it does not connect to the present application [by Ms. Bharadwaj] in anyway.” Ms. Pai then said, “there is no direct connection”.

Ms. Pai also read out another letter recovered from Mr. Wilson’s laptop, and quoted, “we need to come up with a proposal for initiating an All-India Anti-Fascist Front by strengthening Dalits and Muslim forces from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra.”

Ms. Pai also began her arguments opposing activist Arun Ferreira’s bail and said there is material against him to charge him under the UAPA for being a member of a banned organisation, for recruiting cadres, collecting funds and aiding and abetment. She will conclude her arguments on October 4.