Bhima Koregaon case: Supreme Court adjourns hearing on bail plea of ​​Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira

The hearing in the Supreme Court has been postponed in the case of bail of accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Bhima Koregaon case. The next hearing of this matter will be on 6 February. The Supreme Court said that further hearing of the case will not be postponed. Earlier on August 18, 2022, the Supreme Court had asked the special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to frame charges against accused Vernon Gonsalves within three months. The Supreme Court bench directed the NIA to take appropriate steps to separate the trial of activist Gonsalves from other absconding accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case. Along with this, the court had also asked the NIA to issue fugitive offender notices for the absconding accused.

The court was considering a petition filed by Gonsalves challenging the 2019 Bombay High Court order rejecting his bail plea. The Bombay High Court had in 2019 rejected the bail applications filed by activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.

The court had said that there was prima facie evidence that the three accused were active members of the CPI (Maoist), which is a banned organisation, and attracted Section 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The bench, after hearing the arguments, observed that Gonsalves was earlier convicted for being part of a banned organisation.