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Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor Walk Out on Bail

Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor Walk Out on Bail

Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor after being released from Taloja Jail. Jan 27, 2026.

shared by Maktoob/@MaktoobMedia (Jan 28, 2026):
Bhima Koregaon case: Kabir Kala Manch activists Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor walk out of jail after 1,970 days
Kabir Kala Manch activists Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor walked out of jail after being granted bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, ending nearly five and a half years of incarceration. The two had been lodged in prison since 7 September 2020 under the draconian UAPA.


shared by Anish (Jan 27, 2026):
Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor released
Welcome Comrades.
#ReleaseAllPoliticalPrisoners

‘Lost Five and a Half Years, But Dignity Still Intact’: Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor Walk Out on Bail

27/01/2026

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Released from jail on Tuesday, both activists lamented the continuing incarceration of their fellow Elgar Parishad accused Surendra Gadling.
The most challenging phase of incarceration, according to Sagar Gorkhe, one of the activists accused in the Elgar Parishad case, is the “agonising wait” for release after bail has been granted.
Gorkhe and fellow accused Ramesh Gaichor were granted bail by the Bombay high court on January 23. A division bench comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and S.C. Chandak allowed their appeals against the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court’s earlier rejection of bail, primarily on grounds of parity with other co-accused who had already been released, as well as their prolonged detention.
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Bail for Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor, five years and five months after arrest

23/01/2026

SabrangIndia / by SabrangIndia

Bhima Koregaon Case: Bombay High Court granted bail to Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor With Friday (January 23) order, only lawyer Surendra Gadling would continue to remain in jail in this matter that has incarcerated several with the FIR being filed in early 2018
The Bombay High Court on Friday, January 23, granted bail to Bhima Koregaon accused and Kabir Kala Manch artistes Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case. It was a bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SC Chandak that allowed the appeals filed by Gorkhe and Gaichor against the February 2022 order of the special NIA court in Mumbai, which had rejected their bail pleas in the matter.
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Also watch:
▪ Video statement by Sagar Gorkhe & Ramesh Gaichor

by Sukanya Shantha/@sukanyashantha (Sep 7, 2020):
Kabir Kala Manch activists Sagar Gorkhe & Ramesh Gaichor have alleged that they’re being forced by the NIA to give confessional statements claiming they are a part of Maoist organization. The two refused, and were arrested today.
(This video was recorded on Sep 5.)

Watch video

Bail for Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor, five years and five months after arrest in Bhima Koregaon case

Bail for Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor, five years and five months after arrest in Bhima Koregaon case

Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor. Poster by #bakeryprasad

Bail for Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor, five years and five months after arrest

23/01/2026

SabrangIndia / by SabrangIndia

Bhima Koregaon Case: Bombay High Court granted bail to Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor With Friday (January 23) order, only lawyer Surendra Gadling would continue to remain in jail in this matter that has incarcerated several with the FIR being filed in early 2018
The Bombay High Court on Friday, January 23, granted bail to Bhima Koregaon accused and Kabir Kala Manch artistes Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case. It was a bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SC Chandak that allowed the appeals filed by Gorkhe and Gaichor against the February 2022 order of the special NIA court in Mumbai, which had rejected their bail pleas in the matter.
Read more

Bombay High Court Grants Bail To Ramesh Gaichor & Sagar Gorkhe After 5 Yrs In Jail

23/01/2026

Live Law / by Narsi Benwal

The Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to Ramesh Gaichor and Sagar Gorkhe, both arrested since 2020 for their roles in the Elgar Parishad – Bhima Koregaon case.
A division bench of Justice Ajay Gadkari and Justice Shyam Chandak granted bail on the ground of long incarceration.
A detailed order granting them bail is yet to be made available.
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Seven Years On, Bail Finally For Gorkhe & Gaichor In Bhima Koregaon Case

23/01/2026

Outlook / by Priyanka Tupe

The Bombay high court on Friday granted bail to Sagar Gorkhe & Ramesh Gaichor in the Bhima Koregaon case. Total 16 accused were arrested in the case, of which only lawyer Surendra Gadling remains in jail now, denied bail.
The Bombay High Court on Friday granted interim bail to Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor in the Bhima Koregaon case, noting the prolonged incarceration of the two accused even as trial in the matter has not commenced after seven years. The activists have been accused of having links with banned Maoist organisations.
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Bombay HC Grants Bail To Activists Sagar Gorkhe & Ramesh Gaichor

23/01/2026

Free Press Journal / by Urvi Mahajani

The Bombay High Court granted bail to activists Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor in the Elgar Parishad Maoist links case, citing parity with other accused already released. Arrested in 2020, they must furnish bail bonds and report monthly to the NIA. The case involves alleged provocative speeches at a 2017 event that sparked violence in Maharashtra. Trial delays cited.
The Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to two accused in the Elgar Parishad Maoist links case — activists Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor —  on grounds of parity.
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Why Kabir Kala Manch artists Gorkhe and Gaichor, granted bail by HC, were arrested by NIA for ‘Maoist links’

23/01/2026

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

An offence was lodged against some Elgaar Parishad organisers at Vishrambag police station in Pune in January 2018.
More than five years after being arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case for alleged Maoist links, Ramesh Gaichor (41) and Sagar Gorkhe (37), both members of the Pune based cultural group Kabir Kala Manch (KKM), were given bail by the Bombay High Court (HC) on Friday.
The KKM is among the outfits that organised the Elgaar Parishad conclave at the Shaniwar Wada in Pune city on December 31, 2017, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima. The following day, widespread violence was reported in Koregaon Bhima area in Pune district, in which one person died while several others were left injured.
Read more

Also read:
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)

Welcome Comrade Jyoti Jagtap / In Jail For Over Five Years, Jyoti Jagtap Given Interim Bail by SC

Welcome Comrade Jyoti Jagtap / In Jail For Over Five Years, Jyoti Jagtap Given Interim Bail by SC


by Paras Nath Singh (Nov 24, 2025):

After more than five years of unjust incarceration as an undertrial in the Bhima Koregaon case, activist Jyoti Jagtap walked free from jail on interim bail.


by Anish (Nov 22, 2025):
Welcome Comrade Jyoti Jagtap.
Release All Political Prisoners !!

Picture credits: Outlook / PTI

By Outlook India (Nov 22, 2025)

Activist Jyoti Jagtap being greeted by friends and relatives outside Byculla Jail after the Supreme Court granted her interim bail in the Bhima-Koregaon case, in Mumbai.

Elgar Parishad Case: In Jail For Over Five Years, Jyoti Jagtap Given Interim Bail by SC

19/11/2025

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Cultural activist Jagtap, who is the only woman to still be behind bars in the case, was given interim bail until February 2026.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 19) granted cultural activist Jyoti Jagtap interim bail in the Elgar Parishad case in which she has spent five years and six months in jail.
Her interim bail will continue until the next hearing, scheduled for February 2026. Her long-drawn struggle to secure regular bail has involved multiple petitions before various benches from the trial court up to the apex court.
Read more

Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail To Jyoti Jagtap In Bhima Koregaon Case

19/11/2025

Live Law / by Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

The Supreme Court today (November 19) granted interim bail to activist and member of cultural organisation Kala Kabir Manch, Jyoti Jagtap, in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad matter till the next date of hearing, which is in February 2026.
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Supreme Court grants intrim bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Jyoti Jagtap

19/11/2025

Bar & Bench / by Debayan Roy

A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order after it was brought to their notice that Jagtap has been in custody for nearly 5.5 years.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Jyoti Jagtap, one of the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
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SC grants interim bail to Elgaar Parishad case accused Jyoti Jagtap

19/11/2025

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Jyoti Jagtap was the 15th person to be arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case. She was arrested in September 2020 by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, and handed over to NIA.
The Supreme Court Wednesday granted interim bail to Jyoti Jagtap, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case who was arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, for alleged links with banned Maoist outfits.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon case: Activist Jyoti Jagtap gets interim bail from Supreme Court

19/11/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The court was informed that the activist had been in custody for over five years.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to activist Jyoti Jagtap, one of the 16 persons accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case, Bar and Bench reported.
Read more

Elgar Parishad Case: Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail to Jyoti Jagtap

19/11/2025

Outlook / by Priyanka Tupe

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to activist Jyoti Jagtap, who has spent over five years in jail in the Elgar Parishad case under UAPA.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to activist Jyoti Jagtap, who was arrested in 2020 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the Elgar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case for alleged Maoist links.
Read more

Also read:
▪ SC Grants Interim Bail To Mahesh Raut On Medical Grounds For Six Weeks, Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea To Be Heard In October (The Commune / Sep 2025)
▪ SC adjourns bail pleas of Surendra Gadling, Jyoti Jagtap in Bhima Koregaon case (Scroll.in / Feb 2025)
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)
▪ The Young Woman Who Would Not Cry (article 14 / Oct 2020)

Jyoti Jagtap. Credits: Kabir Kala Manch / facebook
Supreme Court to Hear Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea in October

Supreme Court to Hear Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea in October

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.
…
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

Also read:
▪ SC to hear bail plea of activist Jyoti Jagtap on Sep 8 (Hindustan Times / Sep 2025)
▪ Supreme Court adjourns bail pleas of Surendra Gadling and Jyoti Jagtap (Hindustan Times / Mar 2025)
▪ SC adjourns bail pleas of Surendra Gadling, Jyoti Jagtap in Bhima Koregaon case (Scroll.in / Feb 2025)
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Supreme Court to hear bail plea of activist Jyoti Jagtap and the appeal against Mahesh Raut’s bail

Supreme Court to hear bail plea of activist Jyoti Jagtap and the appeal against Mahesh Raut’s bail

Hindustan Times / by pti

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

Also read:
▪ Supreme Court adjourns bail pleas of Surendra Gadling and Jyoti Jagtap (Hindustan Times / Mar 2025)
▪ SC adjourns bail pleas of Surendra Gadling, Jyoti Jagtap in Bhima Koregaon case (Scroll.in / Feb 2025)
▪ Year after being granted bail, Mahesh Raut remains in jail as stay extended (The Indian Express / Sep 2024)
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Case: Mahesh Raut, youngest accused, granted bail by the Bombay HC! (SabrangIndia / Sep 2023)
▪ Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)

The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill Perpetuates India’s Banning Regime

The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill Perpetuates India’s Banning Regime

Credits: Illustration by The Wire.

The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill Perpetuates India’s Banning Regime

01/08/2025

The Wire / by Harish Dhawan and Paramjeet Singh

The Bill strikes at the heart of the fundamental right to association.
The Maharashtra assembly has passed the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill (MSPSB), making it the latest addition to a growing arsenal of banning legislations that cloak sweeping state power to curb the fundamental right to freedom of association with the language of security.
From its title to its objective and provisions, the Bill is shrouded in layers of ambiguity.
Read more

Insecurity By Law: A Critique of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill in the Context of India’s Banning Regime

July 2025

PUDR / by People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

The Maharashtra Bill, which has been designed specifically to target the ‘spread of Naxalism in urban areas,’ as evident in its ‘Object and Reasons’, is an offshoot of a popular narrative, a social media hashtag- the ‘Urban Naxal’, popularised by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri.
…
Particularly in the wake of Elgar Parishad in 2017, the term became a common political lexicon used to describe anti-establishment protesters and dissenting voices. The term ‘Urban Naxal’ formed the backstory for the FIR filed against the people implicated for the Bhima Koregaon case, it even became a synonym for the case itself.
Read full report

Also read:
▪ Maharashtra’s Urban Naxal Bill and its New War on Civil Society – Criminalizing Dissent (Countercurrents / Jul 2025)
▪ As Maharashtra Govt Brings Bill Against ‘Urban Naxalism’, Activists Fear Criminalisation of Dissent (The Wire / Jul 2025)
▪ Maharashtra Assembly passes bill to curb ‘left-wing extremism‘ (Scroll.in / Jul 2025)
▪ Maharashtra: Top Cop Accuses Decades-Old Cultural, Rights Orgs of Working as ‘Naxal Fronts’ (The Wire / Feb 2022)

‘Maoist’ from Pune, known as ‘laptop’, arrested 15 yrs after he went missing

‘Maoist’ from Pune, known as ‘laptop’, arrested 15 yrs after he went missing

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Prashant Jalinder Kamble, an expert with computers, was arrested in Pune
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) nabbed a Pune resident, who was reported “missing” 15 years ago, for allegedly being an active member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
… A graduate from a college in Pune, he was allegedly associated with the city-based cultural outfit Kabir Kala Manch (KKM), which according to the police is a “frontal organisation of Maoists”.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Poetic License: Outside of Village Periphery – Artists in Kabir Kala Manch struggle to earn a living due to censorship (Outlook / Aug 2024)
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Top Cop Accuses Decades-Old Cultural, Rights Orgs of Working as ‘Naxal Fronts’ (The Wire / Feb 2022)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

Poetic License: Outside of Village Periphery – Artists in Kabir Kala Manch struggle to earn a living due to censorship

Poetic License: Outside of Village Periphery – Artists in Kabir Kala Manch struggle to earn a living due to censorship

Outlook / by Rupali Jadhav

Artists in Kabir Kala Manch are struggling to earn a living due to state-sponsored censorship
Kabir Kala Manch, a Pune-based protest performance art troupe, has been a target of the State since its inception in 2002. The group propagates the anti-caste and equality ideology of Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar and Marx through songs and street plays.
In 2019, police arrested three members, Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe and Jyoti Jagtap, in the Bhima Koregaon case for allegedly inciting communalism through songs at Elgar Parishad.
Read more / read poem

Also read:
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order

How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order

Scroll.in / by Ajaz Ashraf

An excerpt from ‘Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste’, by Ajaz Ashraf.
Maharashtrian academic Amarnath Chandaliya founded the Kabir Kala Manch in the wake of the 2002 pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat. The troupe’s avowed mission was to use songs and skits to inoculate the lower classes and castes against the virus of communalism concocted by the votaries of Hindutva, or militant Hindu nationalism. Given the communal-caste linkages, the Kabir Kala Manch subsequently deployed its artistic oeuvre to sensitise its audiences to the oppression and violence built into the Hindu hierarchical social order. 
Read more

▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
Read more/order

▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)

Also read:
▪ How Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis encounter the State. ‘It has its boots on our necks’ (The Print / Jul 2024)
▪ Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

How Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis encounter the State. ‘It has its boots on our necks’

How Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis encounter the State. ‘It has its boots on our necks’

The Print / by Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia

In ‘How Long Can The Moon Be Caged’, Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia look at present-day India through the lived experiences of political prisoners.
A Dalit activist we spoke to said that most people don’t encounter the state the way Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims do. She told us: ‘The state has always had a boot on our necks.’ Forget living; imagine what it takes to survive this. The boot is always pressed against minorities’ necks, making it hard to breathe, demanding that they beg for dignity every day. She added: ‘[For us] it doesn’t matter who is in power; oppression is the only thing that hasn’t changed.’
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How Long Can the Moon Be Caged?
Voices of Indian Political Prisoners
Authors: Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia
Publishing Date: Aug 2023
Publisher: Pluto Press
Pages: 247
A powerful look at authoritarian India through the experiences of political prisoners
How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? includes visual testimonies and prison writings from those falsely accused of inciting the Bhima Koregaon violence, by student leaders opposing the new discriminatory citizenship law passed in 2020, and by activists from the Pinjra Tod’s movement. In bringing together these voices, the book celebrates the courage, humanity and moral integrity of those jailed for standing in solidarity with marginalised and oppressed communities.
Read more / order