The Bombay high court granted bail to researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case on Wednesday.
The Elgar Parishad case was related to the Bhima Koregaon violence that took place in Pune, Maharashtra on January 1, 2018. The allegation was that proscribed Naxalite groups had organised the Elgar Parishad, a programme organised in Pune on December 31, 2017, to observe the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon.
Police claimed speeches made at the programme on December 31 were responsible for instigating violence the next day. The case gained prominence because prominent activists had taken part in the programme, including former JNU student Umar Khalid and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani.
The next day, Dalit supporters clashed with right wing supporters. This violence led to the death of one person and extensive damage to vehicles of both the police and the public. The cops resorted to tear gas to control the violence.
In April 2018, the Pune police raided the Delhi home of Rona Wilson, an activist, and arrested him for his alleged role in the violence. Cops claimed they had unearthed a letter on Wilson’s computer which talked about a conspiracy to assassination Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In June 2018, police arrested human rights activist Sudhir Dhawale for inciting violence through his speeches.
Both Wilson and Dhawale were charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
The police had also arrested other prominent activists such as Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Varavara Rao.
These arrests led to an outcry among India’s opposition parties and academics-activists.
The case investigation was transferred to the National Investigation Agency in February 2020.
The Battle of Bhima Koregaon is another name for the Anglo-Maratha War of January 1, 1818, fought between Peshwa Bajirao II’s army and a small East India Company force, which comprised many Dalits.
