Mumbai Dec 23 PTI Eight activists accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case who were denied default bail by the Bombay High Court earlier this month told the HC on Thursday that they will file review petitions against the order which was based on a factual error The accused activists and academicians -- Sudhir Dawale Dr P Varavara Rao Rona Wilson advocate Surendra Gadling Professor Shoma Sen Mahesh Raut Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira -- had earlier this week filed an application for speaking to minutes which is used for getting minor corrections made to an order of a court On Thursday a bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar said the court could not pass any orders accepting or denying the claims made by the parties or even listen to the arguments on merits since the accused had preferred to move the speaking to minutes application Senior advocate Sudeep Pasbola who appeared for one of the accused activists in the case then told the bench that the accused will withdraw the speaking to minutes application and file fresh pleas seeking a review of the HC order Pasbola said the accused will file the fresh pleas in January 2022 once the HC reopens after the Christmas vacations The bench then said it was not granting any liberty or specific permission to the accused to file the review petition However if the procedure established under the law provided for a review petition they were free to file it the HC said On December 1 this year the bench of Justices Shinde and Jamadar granted default bail to Sudha Bharadwaj also an accused in the Elgar Parishad case on the ground that the Pune sessions court which had granted extension of time to the Pune police for filing of charge sheet after the mandatory 90-day period was over did not have the jurisdiction to do so At that time the bench rejected the same relief for the eight other co-accused in the case The HC then said these eight persons had not exercised their right to seek default bail in time It had observed that while Bharadwaj filed a plea before the Pune court seeking default bail as soon as the 90-day period for filing of the charge sheet in the case got over these eight accused had delayed filing of their applications On Tuesday however the eight accused persons informed the bench through their counsel R Sathyanarayanan that its judgment denying them default bail was based on a factual error They said Dhawale Wilson Gadling Sen and Raut had filed default bail pleas before the Pune sessions court on September 26 2018 after the 90-day period of their arrest got over and the charge sheet remained to be filed The activists said they were arrested on July 6 2018 and the first charge sheet against them was filed only on November 15 2018 They filed their default bail pleas in time but the same are still pending hearing before the sessions court they said Gonsalves Rao and Ferriera told the high court that they had applied for default bail on November 30 2018 just four days after Bharadwaj filed her application before the Pune court They told the HC that the Pune sessions court had rejected their default bail applications along with Bharadwajs default bail plea through a common order passed on November 6 2019 It was this November 6 2019 order that the high court bench of Justice Shinde had set aside on December 1 this year in Bharadwajs case they said The Elgar Parishad case was earlier with the Pune police and it is now being handled by the National Investigation Agency NIA The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31 2017 which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the citys outskirts The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists PTI AYA GK GK

Mumbai Aug 23 PTI Seven activists and academics accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case told the Bombay High Court on Monday the Pune sessions court which remanded them to custody following their arrest and also took cognisance of the polices chargesheet in 2019 had no jurisdiction to do so and sought a default bail The petitioners are Sudhir Dhawale Rona Wilson Surendra Gadling Shoma Sen Mahesh Raut Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira The Elgar Parishad case is related to inflammatory speeches made at a conclave held in Pune on December 31 2017 which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city The prosecution claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links The counsel for the petitioners senior advocate Sudeep Pasbola told the high court that since all the accused persons in the case had been charged for scheduled offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA besides sections under the Indian Penal Code only a designated special court could have taken cognisance of the case Pasbola told a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar that when the accused petitioners were first produced before the Pune court for remand following their arrests in June 2018 they had objected to the courts jurisdiction Yet the sessions court had gone ahead with hearing the matter he said At the time when the first chargesheet was filed in the case designated special courts were functional in Pune Besides even if there hadnt been any functional special court at the time the case since it was dealing with scheduled offences under the UAPA should have gone to a magistrates court who would in turn have designated the sessions court to take cognisance as per law he said Pasbola told the bench the National Investigation Agency NIA had maintained that only after it took over the case in January 2020 it would go before a special court but that was not what the law mandated He said once a scheduled offence was disclosed the case must go before a special court Earlier this month the bench of Justices Shinde and Jamadar had reserved its verdict on a plea seeking default bail filed by lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj on similar grounds The bench will hear the NIA on the activists plea on Tuesday The NIA had submitted its draft charges before a special court here in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case earlier this month and claimed the accused persons wanted to establish their government and wage a war against the nation PTI AYA NSK NSK