Bhima Koregaon case : Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira

The Supreme Court of India on Friday granted bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, who have been in jail since August 2018 for their role in the Bhima Koregaon case.

Judges A Bose and S Dhulia, in their bail order, said: “As five years have passed since they were taken into custody, further detention of the applicants is not warranted and is subject to bail. Although the charges against them are serious, they cannot be denied bail on that ground alone."

The court imposed conditions on Gonsalves and Ferreira that while on bail, they will not leave Maharashtra without the court's permission, surrender their passports, not inform the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of their residence address while on bail, use only one mobile phone which will have a 24-hour active position and report to an investigating officer once a week. The court also said that these conditions were imposed in view of the fact that Vernon Gonsalves had a previous criminal conviction and that another criminal case was pending against him.

The Supreme Court's order comes four months after the court concluded hearing the case in March this year.

Gonsalves and Ferreira were arrested by the Pune police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case on 28 August 2018 and have been in jail for the past five years. Initially, the case was investigated by the Pune police, but was later handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). They have been charged with involvement in the case under the UAPA Anti-Terrorism Act and various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The charge against Gonsalves and Ferreira is that they were part of a well-planned criminal conspiracy along with 14 other people that led to the violence in Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018 and were members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), which is responsible for caste violence. Both Gonsalves and Ferreira approached the Supreme Court in 2022 challenging the Bombay High Court's December 2021 order rejecting their bail applications.

Besides Gonsalves and Ferreira, four other accused, Gautam Navlakha, P Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardawaj and Anand Teltumbde, have been released on bail so far. A total of 16 people are being prosecuted in the case.