Background
In May last year, the accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, including Gonsalves and Ferreira, filed pleas before the Supreme Court seeking a review of the Bombay High Court’s December 2021 judgment refusing them default bail.
The accused contended that there was an error in the judgment and, consequently, prayed that they be granted bail.
Eight accused persons were refused bail by the High Court on December 1, 2021, while another co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj was granted bail. The High Court, in its December 1 order, had distinguished Bharadwaj’s plea from the other eight and noted that Bharadwaj’s application for default bail was pending when an application was made by the Pune Police seeking an extension of time to file the chargesheet.
As far as the others accused were concerned, on May 4, 2022, the High Court stated that there was no factual error in the judgment as claimed and rejected the pleas, leading to the present case before the Supreme Court.
In August 2022, the Supreme Court asked the special NIA court to decide on framing of charges against Gonsalves within 3 months, while refusing to grant any interim relief at the time. Govsalves’ bail plea was, however, kept pending before the top court.
The Court had also directed the special court to segregate Gonsalves’ trial from that of the other accused who are absconding.
Supreme Court judge, Justice Dipankar Datta (formerly the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court) had recused from hearing the present bail applications earlier.
Source: Barandbench
