Researcher Wilson, activist Dhawale walk out of prison on getting bail in 2018 Elgar case

MUMBAI: Researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, were on Friday released on bail from a Navi Mumbai prison, more than six years after they were arrested.

The duo walked out of the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai at around 1:30 pm on completion of bail formalities before the special NIA court presiding over the case, over a fortnight after they were granted bail by the Bombay High Court.

The HC granted bail to Wilson and Dhawale on January 8, noting they had been in jail since 2018 and the trial in the case, in which anti-terror act UAPA has been invoked, was yet to start.

"They are in jail since 2018. Even the charges in the case are yet to be framed. The prosecution has cited over 300 witnesses, thus there is no possibility of the trial concluding in the near future," the HC observed while granting them relief.

A trial starts after charges are framed in a criminal case.

Apart from Dhawale and Wilson, 14 other activists and academicians were arrested in the case. Eight of them -- Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Shoma Sen, Gautam Navlakha and Mahesh Raut -- have been granted bail till now.

Among them, Raut still remains in jail as the appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against his bail is pending before the Supreme Court.

Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, one of the accused, died in 2021 while lodged in judicial custody.

The case pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima, a village outside Pune city, the next day.

The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists. The NIA later took over the probe.