Bhima Koregaon violence case: Bail plea of activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira rejected by Pune court

Pune Sessions Court rejected the bail plea of activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira who are three of the five activists arrested on 28 August in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. All three are presently under house arrest which was supposed to end today (Friday, 26 October, 2018), reported ANI. [caption id=“attachment_5451291” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of protesters demonstrating against the arrests. PTI[/caption] Earlier this week on Wednesday, the Supreme Court declined to hold an urgent hearing of a review petition filed by historian Romila Thapar against the apex court’s verdict that refused a Special Investigation Team (SIT)-led investigation into house arrests of the five activists in the case. Thapar along with four others had earlier filed the petition in the top court against the house arrest of the activists. The court, in its verdict, had also allowed Maharashtra Police to continue with the investigation. On 28 September, the Supreme Court, then headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, had turned down the request of the petitioners to set up a SIT to probe into the case and extended the activists’ house arrest for four weeks. The five activists - Varavara Rao, Bharadwaj, Ferreira, Gonsalves and Gautam Navlakha, have been under house arrest since 29 August for their alleged involvement in the violence which took place on 1 January. The five accused were arrested from various cities for their alleged involvement in the violence during the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle. One person was killed and many were injured in the clashes.