Browsed by
Tag: Vernon Gonsalves

Video: Vernon v. State of Maharashtra: A Breakthrough in Bail Jurisprudence under the UAPA?

Video: Vernon v. State of Maharashtra: A Breakthrough in Bail Jurisprudence under the UAPA?

by PUCL India / @PUCLindia (Aug 7, 2023)

Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were released after 5 years in jail!
Join our discussion on their bail order and to understand its implications! How can we advocate for the release of all political prisoners arrested under UAPA?


en | 1:29:01 | 2023
Watch video


UAPA disproportionately targets religious, ethnic minorities: Activist

10/08/2023

News Trail / by Umar Sharieef | NT

Discussing the Supreme Court’s decision in granting bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferriera accused in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case, members from People’s Union for Civil Liberties said the bail order has significant implications for bail jurisprudence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, UAPA, in the framework of criminal law.
The members highlighted the top court’s bail-granting powers under the UAPA, which flows from the Zahood Ahmad Watali judgment.
Read more


Also read/watch:
PUDR welcomes the release on bail of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira today, but protests onerous bail conditions (PUDR / Aug 6, 2023)

● Video: Personal Liberty and the Indian Courts

en | 1h 42min | 2022
The discussion moderated by PUCL General Secretary, V Suresh, Arvind Narrain, VP Karnataka State PUCL and Kavita Srivastava, National Secretary PUCL

Watch video (PUCL fb page)

● Repeal UAPA – Persecution by Prosecution

Three Day consultation on 20th, 21st and 22nd January, 2021

► Repeal UAPA – Day Three (en + … | 2h 51min | Jan 2021)
► Repeal UAPA – Day Two (en +… | 2h 22min | Jan 2021)
► Repeal UAPA – Day One (en + … | 2h 17min | Jan 2021)

PUDR welcomes the release of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, but protests onerous bail conditions

PUDR welcomes the release of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, but protests onerous bail conditions

PUDR welcomes the release on bail of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira today, but protests onerous bail conditions

05/08/2023

pudr.org / by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR))

People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) welcomes the Supreme Court order granting bail on merits and release of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, two of the accused in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
In a significant judgement, on 28 July 2023, the top court granted bail for two primary reasons: the fact that the accused had already been incarcerated for 5 years with the trial not having commenced yet, and that the NIA had been unable to justify, even prima facie, the allegations against them.
… However, what is even more disturbing is that the apex court has allowed for further conditions to be set by the special trial court, conditions that the latter may “consider fit and proper”. Accordingly, on July 31, the special NIA court has set further conditions which prohibit the duo from:
Read full statement:


Also read:
Gonsalves and Ferreira bail judgment: A step in the right direction but where will we go from here? (The Leaflet / Aug 5, 2023)
Bhima Koregaon accused asked to share phone location while on bail. Is this constitutional? (Scroll.in / Jul 31, 2023)
‘Brings Hope, But…’ Bhima Koregaon Families React to Gonsalves, Ferreira Bail ( The Quint / Jul 29, 2023)

Activists Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira, walk out of jail finally

Activists Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira, walk out of jail finally

Vernon & Arun walk out of jail. Aug 5, 2023.

By Meera Sanghamitra / @meeracomposes (Aug 5, 2023)
Activists #VernonGonsalves & #ArunFerreira, walk out of jail finally! Small mercies after unjust incarceration over 5 long years! Zindabad, Salaam, Arun & Vernon! Ur beautiful smiles despite so much of injustice, puts this entire system to shame!
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners


Also read:
Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, with tethers (The Leaflet / July 28, 2023)

Bombay High Court hears fresh bail plea of Gautam Navlakha

Bombay High Court hears fresh bail plea of Gautam Navlakha

Bombay High Court hears fresh bail plea of Gautam Navlakha

04/08/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Advocate Yug Chaudhry, representing Gautam Navalkha, sought parity with the recent judgment of the Supreme Court granting bail to co-accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira. Chaudhry took the court through the material cited by the National Investigation Agency, claiming there was no evidence to prove the commission of any “terrorist act” by Navlakha.
On Friday, a division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Shivkumar Dige heard a fresh bail application filed by journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha.
… The matter is posted for further hearing on August 7.
Read more


‘If I write mercy plea for Kasab…’: Elgar parishad accused asks Bombay High Court

03/08/2023

India Today / by Vidya

Gautam Navlakha has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He has been behind bars since the last three and half years and is currently under house arrest.
The bail plea hearing of Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, began before the bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SG Dige on Thursday. Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhari, representing Navlakha, raised significant concerns regarding the charges levied against the activist under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including waging war against the country and conspiracy.
Read more


Also read:
Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, with tethers (The Leaflet / July 28, 2023)
Why the SC Judgment Granting Bail to Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira Is So Significant (The Wire / Jul 2023)
Why the Bombay High Court granted regular bail to Dr. Anand Teltumbde: An explainer (The Leaflet / Dec 2022)

NIA Court Imposes Extra Bail Terms on Gonsalves & Ferreira / Is this constitutional? / Release may get delayed

NIA Court Imposes Extra Bail Terms on Gonsalves & Ferreira / Is this constitutional? / Release may get delayed

NIA Court Imposes Extra Bail Terms on Gonsalves & Ferreira: What Does This Mean?

01/08/2023

The Quint / by The Quint

The Supreme Court had granted bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on 28 July.
Even though the Supreme Court granted bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on Friday, 28 July, the two might not walk out of prison just yet.
Why the delay? A special NIA court, according to India Today, has imposed additional bail conditions on them.
Read more


Bhima Koregaon accused asked to share phone location while on bail. Is this constitutional?

01/08/2023

Scroll.in / by Vineet Bhalla

A Supreme Court bench is currently adjudicating the constitutionality of such a bail condition.
… The two-judge bench of the court comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia on Friday imposed unusually restrictive bail conditions on Ferreira and Gonsalves. One of them is the requirement of keeping “the location status of their mobile phones active, 24 hours a day” and “pair[ing]” their phones with those of the investigating officer of the National Investigation Agency to enable the officer to identify Ferreira’s and Gonsalves’ exact location “at any given time”.
While this may sound like an uncommon bail condition, it has featured in three previous orders of the Supreme Court over the last nine months. In all four instances, Justice Bose was part of the bench that passed the order. The Delhi High Court has passed over 800 bail orders with this condition.
Read more


Release of Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira may get delayed as court rejects cash bail plea

31/07/2023

The Telegraph / by pti

The court imposed additional conditions for their bail, directing the accused to furnish a PR (personal recognisance) bond of Rs 50,000 each.
The release of activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, could get delayed as a special NIA court here on Monday rejected their pleas for temporary cash bail.
The court imposed additional conditions for their bail, directing the accused to furnish a PR (personal recognisance) bond of Rs 50,000 each and desist from speaking to the media about the case.
Read more


After securing Supreme Court bail, activists Gonsalves, Ferreira likely to walk out of jail next week

28/07/2023

The Telegraph / by pti

The apex court, while giving relief, asked them not to leave Maharashtra and surrender their passports to the police.
Activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, are likely to walk out of jail only next week after securing bail from the Supreme Court on Friday as certain formalities are to be completed before they are released, defence lawyers said here.
Read more


Also read:
Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, with tethers (The Leaflet / July 28, 2023)

The SC Judgment Granting Bail to Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira Is Significant – Various Statements

The SC Judgment Granting Bail to Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira Is Significant – Various Statements

Gonsalves and Ferreira bail judgment: A step in the right direction but where will we go from here?

05/08/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The recent Supreme Court judgment granting bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira after five years of incarceration without trial reiterates several established principles of law for the protection of individual liberty and overturns the infirmities in Zahoor Ahmad Watali and Arup Bhuyan (2023), but will it have a ripple effect on the cases of the more than four lakh undertails incarcerated in Indian prisons?
… the bail judgment holds that the letters recovered from the other co-accused persons, witness statements, or the mere possession of literature propagating violence or promoting the overthrow of democratically elected government, does not prove that the two accused were involved in terrorist acts within the definition of the UAPA.
Read more


Why the SC Judgment Granting Bail to Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira Is So Significant

30/07/2023

The Wire / by Mihir Desai

The judgment has substantial implications not just for the others still in jail in the Elgar Parishad case but also for the bail jurisprudence in UAPA cases.
The restrictive bail provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been widely used to deny personal liberty to activists, students, journalists and others.
… It is in this context that the July 28 bail judgment of the Supreme Court in Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira’s case needs to be seen. Undoubtedly for the two of them, who have been in jail for nearly five years, it has immense significance. But what should not be lost sight of is that the judgment also has substantial implications not just for the others still in jail in the Elgar Parishad case but also for the bail jurisprudence in UAPA cases.
Read more


Not Thwarted by Watali: Why Bail for Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira Matters

01/08/2023

The Quint / by Mekahala Saran

The Supreme Court judgment flatly refuses to accept the prosecution’s submissions without its own analysis.
In the days that followed Father Stan Swamy’s demise in 2021, the Bombay High Court is believed to have noted that he was “a wonderful person”. The eighty-four year old, a UAPA accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was awaiting bail at the time of his death.
… So, when his co-accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira were finally granted bail, with the apex court shredding the prosecution’s case for their continued incarceration, Fr Stan Swamy’s friend Fr Joseph Xavier told The Quint that Fr Swamy would have been “very happy and proud to hear of this”, had he been alive.
Read more


On merits: On the Bhima Koregaon violence case

31/07/2023

The Hindu / Editorial

Following the Supreme Court bail order, the Bhima Koregaon case needs a re-look.
The Supreme Court order granting bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira demonstrates how even under a stringent anti-terrorism law, denial of bail need not be the norm, and a preliminary assessment can lay bare the weaknesses of a police case. It is difficult for someone arrested under serious provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to get bail.
… This is the first time in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, in which activists and lawyers were arrested in 2018 on the charge of being part of a Maoist conspiracy, a court has recorded a finding that the accusations may not be true.
Read more


Indian Church leaders welcome grant of bail to activists

31/08/2023

UCA News / by Michael Gonsalves

Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves with Father Stan Swamy and others were accused of plotting to overthrow government
Church leaders and rights activists have hailed the bail granted by India’s top court to co-accused of the late Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, booked under a terror-related law.
India’s Supreme Court granting bail to lawyer Arun Ferreira and trade unionist Vernon Gonsalves “is indeed a significant move,” Father Nicholas Barla, secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) Commission for Tribal Affairs, told UCA News.
It will boost the morale of the other “activists working for the rights of tribal people, forest-dwellers, and Dalits (former untouchables),” he said.
Read more


What Next after the Vernon Gonsalves Judgment

30/07/2023

The Proof of Guilt / by by Abhinav Sekhri

A Division Bench of the Supreme Court has allowed appeals filed by Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira [Reported as Vernon v. State of Maharashtra, Crl. Appeal No. 639 / 2023 (Decided on 28.07.2023) (“Vernon”)] which challenged the dismissal of their bail applications by the Bombay High Court, and has directed that they must be released on bail. The judgment comes almost five years after their arrests, and has been welcomed as a ray of light in what is possibly one of the darkest corners of present Indian jurisprudence — grant of bail in cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (“UAPA”). I need not elaborate the reasons for this praise for Vernon here, all of which is merited, as these have been comprehensively discussed on the ICLP Blog. Instead, I wish to flag the challenges ahead that must be resolved to make sure that the judgment in Vernon is not reduced to a forgotten relic by the sands of time.
Read more


Recovering the Basics: The Supreme Court’s Bail Order in Vernon Gonsalves’ Case

29/07/2023

Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy / by Gautam Bhatia

Over the last decade, the bail provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act [“UAPA”] have been one of the most significant sites of constitutional struggles for personal liberty and State impunity (see  and ). A number of convergent factors (as discussed by Abhinav Sekhri in ) are responsible for this: the UAPA’s broadly-worded provisions (e.g. “membership” of terrorist gangs) lowers the threshold for initial arrest and custody, and the pace of the trial process means that years will pass before a final determination of guilt or innocence. In that context, bail is the only remedy that stands between an individual and a decade in jail without trial.
Read more


‘Brings Hope, But…’ Bhima Koregaon Families React to Gonsalves, Ferreira Bail

29/07/2023

The Quint / by Fatima Khan & Mekhala Saran

The Supreme Court has granted bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Even as the Supreme Court granted bail on Friday, 28 July, to two accused in the Elgar Parishad case, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, the families of the other accused in the same case said that the verdict inspired some hope “but should not be celebrated too much.” Moreover, some even questioned the “insensitive bail conditions.”
Read more


Also read:
Why the Bombay High Court granted regular bail to Dr. Anand Teltumbde: An explainer (The Leaflet / Dec 2022)
A Professor’s Supreme Court Bail Hearing Is A Bellwether Case For Govt’s Use of India’s Anti-Terror Law (article14 / Nov 2022)

No evidence against Gonsalves, Ferreira; mere possession of violent literature not terrorist Act: SC [Read judgment]

No evidence against Gonsalves, Ferreira; mere possession of violent literature not terrorist Act: SC [Read judgment]

‘No Material’ to Demonstrate Terror Link, Yet Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferriera Spent 5 Years in Jail [Read judgment]

29/07/2023

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

It took five-full years of incarceration and several rejections of bail applications before both the trial court and the high court before the Supreme Court finally could notice that the country’s premier investigating agency, the National Investigations Agency (NIA), has shown no evidence to keep two men in their custody.
The Supreme Court on Friday, July 28, in a detailed 54-page bail order observed that human rights defenders Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferriera were both held in jail even when “no material has been demonstrated by the NIA before us that the appellants are members of the terrorist organisation”.
Read more


Mere Possession Of Extremist Literature Not ‘Terrorist Activity’ Under UAPA; No ‘Credible Evidence’ Against Vernon & Arun: Supreme Court [Read judgment]

29/07/2023

Live Law / by Awstika Das

Mere possession of literature even if it inspires or propagates violence by itself would neither amount to a ‘terrorist act’ within the meaning of Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2002, nor any other offences under Chapters IV and VI of the Act, the Supreme Court of India held while granting bail to Bhima Koregaon-accused and activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira. This verdict was delivered yesterday by a bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia.
Read more
Read judgment


No evidence against Gonsalves, Ferreira; mere possession of violent literature not terrorist Act: Supreme Court [Read judgment]

28/07/2023

Bar & Bench / by Debayan Roy

The Court noted that there was no evidence of Gonsalves and Ferreira committing any terrorist act that would attract the stringent provisions against grant of bail under the UAPA.
Mere possession of literature through which violent acts may be propagated will not fall within the scope of ‘terrorist act’ under Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Supreme Court said while granting bail to Bhima Koregaon violence accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on Friday [Vernon v. State of Maharashtra].
Read more
Read judgment


Mere possession of certain literature is not ‘terrorist act’ under UAPA, says Supreme Court

29/07/2023

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia made the observation while granting bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Merely possessing certain literature which might be used to propagate violent actions cannot be charged as a “terrorist act” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Supreme Court said on Friday, reported Bar and Bench.
Read more


Also read:
Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, with tethers (The Leaflet / July 28, 2023)
Why the Bombay High Court granted regular bail to Dr. Anand Teltumbde: An explainer (The Leaflet / Dec 2022)

Supreme Court grants regular bail to Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira, with tethers

Supreme Court grants regular bail to Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira, with tethers

Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, with tethers

28/07/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The Bench directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA)’s special court to set such conditions as necessary, including requiring the two to not change their mobile phones, keep them active and charged at all times, keep the location status of the mobile phones ‘active’ all through the day, and pair the devices with the devices of the investigating office of the NIA.
On Friday, the Supreme Court granted regular bail to trade unionist, activist and academic Vernon Gonsalves, and activist and lawyer Arun Ferreira.
Read more


Supreme Court Grants Bail To Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira In Bhima Koregaon Case

28/07/2023

Live Law / by Awstika Das

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Bhima Koregaon-accused and activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, both of whom have been lodged in jail since August 2018 for alleged offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. They were arrested in connection with the 2018 caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune, and for having alleged links with the proscribed far-left outfit, Communist Party of India (Maoists).
Read more


Supreme Court Grants Bail To Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira [Read judgment]

28/07/2023

Bar & Bench / by Debayan Roy

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia said that while the charges against the two accused are serious, that alone cannot be the reason for denying bail.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case of 2018 [Vernon vs State of Maharashtra and anr].
Read more
Read judgment


After 5 Years in Jail, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira Get Bail in Elgar Parishad Case

28/07/2023

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

… The Elgar Parishad case, registered by the Pune police in January 2018 and later handed over to the National Investigating Agency in 2020, has been mired in controversy since the very start. While the state had initially claimed that 16 persons –  including Gonsalves and Ferreira – played an active role in “provoking” the gathered crowd at Bhima Koregaon with their speeches and triggering violence on the 200th-anniversary celebration of the battle of Bhima Koregaon, they were later accused of being “urban Naxals”.
The claims of their alleged association with the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation is based on purported emails and other evidence allegedly retrieved from the electronic devices belonging to the accused. These claims, however, have been challenged by many independent forensic organisations.
Read more



Also read:
● National Campaign to Defend Democracy: 5 Years of Unjust Incarceration under Fabricated Evidence (Counterview / July 2023)
Why the letter about a ‘Rajiv Gandhi-type’ assassination plot to kill Modi is fake (dailyo | by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves | Jun 2018)
Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (dailyo | by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves | Jan 2018)

When reading books is criminalised: Examining UAPA, sedition cases in India

When reading books is criminalised: Examining UAPA, sedition cases in India

The News Minute / by Prajwal Bhat, edited by Vidya Sigamany

Among other things, books read by students and activists are increasingly part of chargesheets in sedition and terror cases.
In Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial, the protagonist is prosecuted by an unknown authority that drags him through opaque legal proceedings where the nature of his crime is not revealed, to him or the reader. Such legal bureaucracies that are seemingly far-fetched are not too dissimilar to the trials of students, activists, and academics in India who are charged with sedition or under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Perhaps the account that is most reminiscent of Kafka’s novel is Sagar Abraham-Gonsalves describing the police ransacking their home and confiscating books, computers, and hard drives before arresting Sagar’s father, activist Vernon Gonsalves, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.
Read more


Also read:

● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report
Will SC’s Sedition Order Mean Relief for Delhi Riots, Bhima Koregaon Accused? (The Quint / May 2022)
Explainer: How the Sedition Law Has Been Used in the Modi Era (The Wire / Mai 2022)

NIA gets more time to reply to plea for furnishing copies of evidence to the accused

NIA gets more time to reply to plea for furnishing copies of evidence to the accused

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

A few accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case have previously argued that their applications for cloned copies under Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure have been pending for more than five years.
On Tuesday, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria allowed the agency time to file an additional reply to the applications filed by accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
… The matter is posted for further hearing on the applications filed under Section 207 of the CrPC on July 28.
Read more


Also read:
Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)