Bhima Koregaon Case
Bombay High Court rejects Bhima Koregaon accused Sudha Bharadwaj's bail plea on health grounds
Mumbai/IBNS: The Bombay High Court has rejected the interim bail plea of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj—an accused in Elgar Parishad - Bhima Koregaon case—who had sought relief amid Covid-19 pandemic, said media reports.
Fifty-eight-year-old Sudha Bharadwaj is lodged in Mumbai’s Byculla Women's Jail since 2018. She had filed an appeal before the Mumbai High Court after NIA court dismissed her bail plea, said an NDTV report.
She had sought bail on health grounds, saying she suffered from comorbidities, such as hypertension and diabetes, and was at the risk of contracting coronavirus while she was lodged at the prison where one inmate had earlier tested positive for Covid-19, the report added.
Hearing Bharadwaj's plea on Friday, the high court noted the prosecution's submission that all precautions were being taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the prison and she was being given the necessary medical care.
The NIA counsel, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, argued against her bail plea saying if her condition needed hospital care the state would provide it, said the report.
He also cited the example of 81-year-old co-accused, Varavara Rao, who was admitted to a state-run hospital for treatment of Covid-19 and other ailments and was shifted to a private hospital after the intervention of National Human Rights Commission. He was discharged from hospital on August 27 after recovering from Covid-19 and sent back to jail, it added.
Rao’s bail plea also being heard by the Bombay High Court where the NIA has said the pandemic and his age and health condition were being used as a ploy to take undue advantage.
In Bharadwaj’s case, the court agreed with NIA and the Maharashtra government’s arguments that the prison authorities were taking all measures to contain the spread of coronavirus and she was given all necessary medical care.
"In our view, no case is made out for grant of bail," the HC said, reported NDTV.
The event, called the Elgar Parishad, was organised to commemorate the Battle of Bhima-Koregaon between the East India Company and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy in 1818.
It may be recalled that the violence broke out between Dalits and upper castes in the village of Bhima-Koregaon near Pune on January 1, 2018, a day after the event, allegedly due to the incendiary speeches made by some activists at the Elgar Parishad event.
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