Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the special court designated under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act to expedite the trial in the Elgaar Parishad case and said that the framing of charges be completed within nine months, a lawyer said here on Wednesday.
The division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata gave direction while granting bail to Elgaar Parishad accused activists Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhavale, citing prolonged incarceration of over six and a half years without trial since they were arrested in June 2018.
The bail was granted on Jan 8, while the detailed copy of the order was made available on January 15.
A total of 16 people were arrested in this case, while 10 people were granted bail in the case that was registered by Pune police in 2018 alleging that the accused were involved in provocative speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima in Pune district the next day.
The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by the Maoists.
Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Shoma Sen, Gautam Navlakha, and Mahesh Raut are among the accused who were granted bail earlier.
However, Raut remained inside jail after the NIA challenged his bail order in the Supreme Court. On Tuesday the special NIA court granted him interim bail for 18 days to enable him to appear for an LLB exam.
Stan Swamy, one of the accused, died in 2021 while in prison.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the probe from Pune police, and a chargesheet has been filed in the case. However, the special NIA court is yet to frame charges against the accused.
In August 2021, the NIA submitted a chargesheet claiming that the accused in the case were active members of the banned terrorist organisation and alleged that they wanted to establish a “janta sarkar” via revolution supported by a commitment to protracted armed struggle to undermine and seize power from the state.
The accused were charged with over a dozen offences, including “promoting enmity between different groups” and “doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony,” “waging war against the government,” and several sections under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
