The Bombay High Court on Wednesday, January 8, granted bail to Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale, accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case. They were booked under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Citing prolonged incarceration and non-framing of charges, the bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata granted bail.
"They are in jail since 2018. Even the charges in the case are yet to be framed. The prosecution has cited over 300 witnesses, and thus there is no possibility of the trial to conclude in the near future," the bench said, according to LiveLaw.
According to Bar and Bench, bail was granted subject to bail bonds of Rs 1 lakh with the condition that the accused report before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) every Monday.
Rona and Sudhir are among the 16 rights' activists and rationalists booked in the Bhima-Koregaon Elgar Parishad case. They are accused of having links with the banned outfit CPI (Maoist) and also of waging a war against the country.
On 17 April 2018, the Pune police raided the Delhi home of Rona Wilson – a prominent prison rights activist – and arrested him for his alleged role in the violence at the Bhima Koregaon memorial in January of that year.
The police later claimed to have found a letter on the hard disk of Rona’s computer that allegedly contained details of a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “overthrow the government.”
Similarly, the police arrested Sudhir – a Dalit rights activist – in connection to the violence. He was one of the primary organisers of the Elgar Parishad event, which marked the commemoration of 200 years of Bhima Koregaon battle, where a contingent of Mahar soldiers, as part of the East India Company’s army, fought against the Peshwa and won. The celebration was marred with violence when pro-Hindutva groups attacked the Dalits gathered at the site with swords and stones.