NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case, noting that they have been in custody for five years.
The activists were arrested in August 2018 on charges of inciting violence, under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The Bombay High Court had earlier rejected their bail plea in December 2021. Following this Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira approached the Supreme Court of India.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia noted that activists Gonsalves and Ferreira had been in custody for five years and granted them bail.
However, the bench ordered they shall not leave Maharashtra and surrender their passports to the police.
It also directed the two activists to use one mobile each and let the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case, know their addresses.
The case pertains to the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which according to the Pune police was funded by Maoists.
Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, along with 14 others, have been accused by the National Investigation Agency.
The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) later took over the probe into the matter.
The Jesuit priest, Stan Swamy who suffered from Parkinson's disease, was the oldest to be arrested in the case.At the time of his arrest, Swamy's health had been waning. But his bail appeal on medical grounds was rejected. In the eight months he spent in Mumbai's Tajola jail, his health declined to a point where he could not even eat or bathe by himself. He died of complications at the age of 84 on 5 July 2021 bringing a renewed focus on the UAPA and its place in India’s democracy.
Many also expressed anger at the way he was jailed during Covid-19 and repeatedly denied bail.
READ MORE: Life and liberty in the Bhima Koregaon case