Bhima Koregaon Case: 8 activists denied default bail tell HC they will seek review of order

Mumbai: Eight activists accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, who were denied default bail by the Bombay High Court earlier this month, told the HC on Thursday that they will file review petitions against the order which was based on a "factual error".

The accused activists and academicians -- Sudhir Dawale, Dr P Varavara Rao, Rona Wilson, advocate Surendra Gadling, Professor Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, -- had earlier this week filed an application for 'speaking to minutes', which is used for getting minor corrections made to an order of a court.

On Thursday, a bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar said the court could not pass any orders accepting or denying the claims made by the parties, or even listen to the arguments on merits since the accused had preferred to move the speaking to minutes application.

Senior advocate Sudeep Pasbola, who appeared for one of the accused activists in the case, then told the bench that the accused will withdraw the speaking to minutes application and file fresh pleas seeking a review of the HC order.

Pasbola said the accused will file the fresh pleas in January 2022, once the HC reopens after the Christmas vacation.

The bench then said it was not granting any liberty or specific permission to the accused to file the review petition. However, if the procedure established under the law provided for a review petition, they were free to file it, the HC said.

On December 1 this year, the bench of Justices Shinde and Jamadar granted default bail to Sudha Bharadwaj, also an accused in the case, on the ground that the Pune sessions court, which had granted an extension of time to the Pune police for filing of charge sheet after the mandatory 90-day period was over, did not have the jurisdiction to do so.

At that time, the bench rejected the same relief for the eight other co-accused in the case.