What began in 2018 as a commemoration of anti-caste resistance turned into an eight-year-long legal ordeal, with 16 lawyers, poets, professors and activists jailed under anti-terror laws—many without trial, and some still behind bars today
Summary
◦ The Bhima-Koregaon event in 2018, a Dalit-led commemoration, was followed by violence—leading to the arrest of 16 activists, academics, and lawyers.
◦ All accused were charged under the harsh UAPA law, allowing long detentions without evidence or trial—Fr Stan Swamy died in custody.
◦ Eight of the 16 have been granted bail, but some remain jailed as courts have not yet ruled on their discharge petitions. Read more
Senior Advocate Anand Grover on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the case against Dalit rights activist and advocate Surendra Gadling in the 2016 Gadchiroli Surajgad arson incident was “completely false” and based only on electronic evidence illegally seized in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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The Court adjourned the matter to next Wednesday (September 24) after briefly hearing Grover and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju. Read more
#SupremeCourt hears bail plea of lawyer Surendra Gadling, accused under UAPA in the 2016 Gadchiroli arson case.
Bench: Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Bishnoi.
Senior Advocate Anand Grover: he was not named in the FIR. He was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. In that case, under procedure unknown to law say that they have found electronic evidence implicating him in this case.
J Maheshwari: What is the material against him?
Grover: Nothing except the evidence found in the other case. The procedure in that case to collect evidence totally contrary to law. And then they say that there is evidence in those electronic devices that you are a member of the maoist party.
Grover: evidence that they have collected, he was espousing that cause to fight it legally. There was no search warrant.
J Maheshwari to ASG SV Raju: he is saying that search Warren application was submitted but it was not permitted by the court still you made a search.
Raju: there is no requirement for obtaining search warrant in the course of investigation. It is right of the investigating officer to search any place for the purpose of finding evidence, those are inherent powers of the IO.
Raju: I will point out from the CrPC. Even assuming that the search was illegal the court has taken a view that material recovered can be admissible as evidence. Even if search is illegal material collected is not washed of. It can be relied upon and conviction can be based on it
J Maheshwari: If we continue for 15 minutes you will finish it?
SC Grants Interim Bail To Mahesh Raut On Medical Grounds For Six Weeks, Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea To Be Heard In October
16/09/2025
The Commune / by The Commune
The Supreme Court on Tuesday (16 September 2025) granted interim bail on medical grounds for a period of six weeks to Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case accused Mahesh Raut, who has been under custody since June 2018 after being arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, over alleged Maoist links.
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The plea of co-accused Jyoti Jagtap was also mentioned during the hearing by Senior Advocate Aparna Bhat, who submitted that the case has been pending for the last six to seven years. The bench said it will take up Jagtap’s case in October. Read more
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Bail Plea of Bhima Koregaon Accused Jyoti Jagtap in October
16/09/2025
Law Beat / by Sukriti Mishra
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear in October the bail plea of Jyoti Jagtap, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, who has been incarcerated for almost seven years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma was hearing Jagtap’s petition when Senior Advocate Aparna Bhat, appearing on her behalf, urged the Court to consider the long period of incarceration without trial. Read more
Supreme Court grants six-week interim medical bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Mahesh Raut
17/09/2025
Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia
Raut, in jail since 2018 under UAPA, secures interim relief for rheumatoid arthritis treatment; despite being granted regular bail by Bombay High Court in 2023, he remains in custody as the order has been under Supreme Court stay for two years
The Supreme Court on Monday, September 16, 2025, granted six weeks’ interim medical bail to Mahesh Raut, one of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case, who has been in custody since his arrest in June 2018 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).
Court proceedings
A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order after Raut moved the Court citing serious health concerns. Read more
SC Grants Interim Bail To Mahesh Raut On Medical Grounds For Six Weeks, Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea To Be Heard In October
16/09/2025
The Commune / by The Commune
The Supreme Court on Tuesday (16 September 2025) granted interim bail on medical grounds for a period of six weeks to Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case accused Mahesh Raut, who has been under custody since June 2018 after being arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, over alleged Maoist links. Read more
Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail To Mahesh Raut On Medical Grounds For 6 Weeks
16/09/2025
Live Law / by Gursimran Kaur Bakshi
The Supreme Court today (September 16) granted interim bail on medical grounds for a period of 6 weeks to Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case accused Mahesh Raut, arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, over alleged Maoist links. He has been in custody since his arrest in June 2018. Read more Read order
Despite nearly 200 listings in trial court, proceedings haven’t moved beyond preliminary stage. Surendra Gadling was arrested in Surajgarh arson case in January 2019.
Human rights lawyer Surendra Pundalik Gadling has spent more than six-and-a-half years in custody as an undertrial in the 2016 Surajgarh arson case, with the trial still stalled at the stage of framing of charges.
Gadling, also an accused in the Elgar Parishad–Koregaon Bhima case, was granted interim bail last week in this matter by an NIA court in Mumbai to attend the last rites of a family member. Read more
Video: 6yrs, no charges framed
en | 4:51 | 2025
Maharasthra human rights lawyer and activist Surnedra Gadling was arrested in Surajgarh arson case in January 2019. Despite nearly 200 listings in trial courts over 4 years, proceedings haven’t moved beyond preliminary stage. He’s also accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Ruchi Bhattar explains more in this video. Watch video
Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
HC slams police, prison authorities for delay in releasing Bhima Koregaon accused
12/09/2025
Hindustan Times / by Karuna Nidhi
The Bombay High Court criticized Maharashtra Police for not releasing anti-caste activist Ramesh Gaichor on temporary bail to visit his ailing father.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday strongly criticised the Maharashtra Police and Prison Authorities for their laxity in failing to release anti-caste activist Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor, 41, arrested in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case. Read more
Ramesh Gaichor released on temporary bail to meet ailing father, jail authority apologises to Bombay HC for delay
11/09/2025
Indian Express / by Express News Service
The Bombay High Court had pulled up Taloja Prison authorities for not complying with its August 26 order for releasing Ramesh Gaichor on temporary bail. Ramesh Gaichor was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in 2020.
The Taloja Prison authorities on Thursday tendered an unconditional apology before the Bombay High Court for not complying with its August 26 order and submitted that the Elgaar Parishad case accused Ramesh Gaichor was released on a three-day temporary bail on the night of September 10. Read more
Bombay HC grants extended temporary bail to Elgar Parishad accused
11/09/2025
National Herald / by NH Political Bureau
HC bench comes down heavily on authorities for what it describes as blatant non-compliance with judicial orders
Bombay High Court has extended temporary bail for activist Ramesh Gaichor, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, after prison authorities delayed his earlier release despite court orders. Gaichor was finally released from Taloja jail on Wednesday night, nearly two weeks after being granted three-day bail on humanitarian grounds. Read more
HC criticises prison authorities for not releasing Ramesh Gaichor despite bail
11/09/2025
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
In August, the Bombay High Court granted activist Ramesh Gaichor bail for three days to meet his ailing father.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the police and prison authorities in Maharashtra for not releasing activist Ramesh Gaichor, who is accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, who was granted three-day temporary bail on August 26 to meet his ailing father, Live Law reported. Read more
Bombay HC Slams Prison Authorities For Failing To Release Ramesh Gaichor Despite Temporary Bail
10/09/2025
Live Law / by Narsi Benwal
Asking if the State has put ‘humanity’ to rest, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday pulled up the Maharashtra Police and also the Prison Authorities for not releasing Ramesh Gaichor, one of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad case, who was last month granted a temporary bail of three days to meet his ailing father in Pune. Read more
Protests across Maharashtra denounce the Public Security Act as unconstitutional and anti-democratic [picture galleries]
10/09/2025
Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia
Opposition, rights groups, and people’s movements unite to call it an “anti-people, anti-democratic law”
A wave of protests swept across Maharashtra today as opposition parties, civil society organizations, and grassroots groups came together to denounce the recently passed Maharashtra Public Security Bill, branding it a “Public Oppression Bill.” Demonstrations took place in Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, Palghar, Beed, Hingoli, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondia, and several other districts, marking one of the largest coordinated state-wide agitations in recent years. Read more
PSA a bid to criminalise varied organisations: Sudha Bharadwaj
31/08/2025
Hindustan Times / by HT Correspondent
Bharadwaj was among the speakers at a webinar organised by All India Inquilabi Youth and Students Alliance (ALIYSA) and National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) along with senior advocate Mihir Desai and activist Ulka Mahajan
Human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj said on Saturday that it was a great thing that the civil society in Maharashtra had already begun protesting against the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act, passed by the state’s legislative assembly in its recently concluded monsoon session. Read more
Maharashtra Special Public Security Act, Pre-Emptive Criminalisation And Indefinite Surveillance
22/08/2025
Outlook / by Anand Teltumbde
The MSPSA gives the state-corporate nexus the legal means to suppress participatory democracy under the guise of public security.
On July 10, 2025, the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha passed a revised version of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act (MSPSA), exactly one year after the original draft was introduced on July 11, 2024, by the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Initially framed as a response to the perceived threat of “urban Naxalism”, the Bill claimed to address the alleged infiltration of Maoist ideology into urban areas through affiliated organisations offering logistical support and shelter to underground cadres. Read more
Supreme Court To Hear Activist Mahesh Raut’s Bail Plea On September 15
08/09/2025
Outlook / by Outlook News Desk
Raut’s counsel apprised the Court that the accused had rheumatoid arthritis and needed specialised treatment that was not available either in prison.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that the bail plea of Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case accused Mahesh Raut will be heard on September 15. Raut had approached the court for bail on medical grounds. Read more
SC to hear accused bail plea on medical grounds
08/09/2025
The Indian Express / by pti
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 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. Read more
The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday the bail plea of activist Jyoti Jagtap who was arrested in 2020 in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma is also likely to hear a petition filed by the National Investigation Agency challenging the bail granted to activist Mahesh Raut.
He was given bail by the Bombay High Court but the order was stayed after the NIA sought stay on the verdict to challenge it before the apex court. Read more
Gadling, arrested in 2018 for alleged Maoist links, had sought bail from September 3 to 19 following the death of his sister-in-law Kavita Narendra Gadling on September 1. His counsel argued that his presence was necessary as the family shared close ties, adding that he had earlier honoured all interim bail conditions without misuse
A special NIA court in Mumbai on Wednesday granted temporary bail to Nagpur-based lawyer and activist Surendra Pundlik Gadling, an accused in the Elgar Parishad–Koregaon Bhima case, to attend post-death rituals of his sister-in-law. Read more
