Elgar Parishad case: Supreme Court to hear accused bail plea on medical grounds on Sep 15

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday decided to hear on September 15 the bail plea of Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case accused Mahesh Raut on medical grounds.

A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma was hearing Raut’s petition challenging his incarceration despite being granted bail by the Bombay High Court.

The high court allowed Raut’s bail plea but stayed its own order for a week on the request of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The top court subsequently extended the stay on his release in the case.

On Monday, Raut’s counsel said the activist was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and required specialised medical care unavailable in prison or at JJ Hospital, where he has been examined.

“If the prison hospital can file a status report, and we can take him for a medical examination… JJ hospital doesn’t have the facilities for this,” the lawyer said.

The bench said if the authorities wish to file an affidavit, they may do so.

“If the ailment is so serious that it warrants continuous treatment, then there is no difficulty. Because all of us know that government doctors play it safe. If a serious treatment is required, they will not touch it because if anything happens then they will be responsible. So let’s just find out, no problem,” the bench said.

When the counsel referred to the fact that Raut had already spent nearly seven years in custody, Justice Sundresh noted, “No issue at all, we will consider it. Keep next Tuesday." Raut is among several activists and cultural workers accused in the Elgar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case.

The Elgar Parishad conclave was held in December 2017 at Shaniwarwada, an 18th-century palace-fort in the heart of Pune.

Investigators alleged that provocative speeches delivered at the event instigated the violence at Koregaon-Bhima on January 1, 2018.

Another accused, cultural activist Sagar Gorkhe alias Jagtap, was arrested in September 2020 on allegations of raising provocative slogans at the conclave along with other Kabir Kala Manch members, and has remained in jail since then.

The bench is also likely to hear the bail plea of another activist Jyoti Jagtap who was arrested in 2020 in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.