The Supreme Court on Monday rejected anticipatory bail pleas of civil rights activists Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case, saying it cannot be said that no prima facie case is made out.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and MR Shah while dismissing the anticipatory bail pleas of Navlakha and Teltumbde said their petitions cannot be maintained in view of the bar contained in 43D(4) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
Section 43D(4) of the UAPA bars grant of anticipatory bail to a person accused of having committed an offence punishable under this Act. “The special leave petitions are, accordingly, dismissed. However, since the protection has been enjoyed by the petitioners approximately for one-and-a-half years, three weeks time from today is granted to them to surrender. The petitioners shall surrender their passport forthwith with the investigation agency/officer,” the bench said. During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Teltumbde, said that the offence under section 120B of IPC is not laid down in the FIR and contended that some documents which the Maharashtra Police recovered was from another person's computer.
He said that these documents are not even emails so as to justify their credibility.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Navlakha, said that UAPA charges were added in the second FIR in June 2018 and his client has not been named or any role assigned to him in the second FIR.