Bhima Koregaon: Pune Court orders release of Anand Teltumbde after a midnight arrest by the Police

The Pune Sessions Court today released Activist Anand Teltumbde after the Pune police arrested him from Mumbai airport in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The Pune Court termed the arrest “illegal” and “amounting to contempt” of the Supreme Court’s order..Teltumbde is one of the many accused persons named in the case relating to the Bhima Koregaon violence and was arrested by the Pune Police after the Pune Sessions Court had rejected his pre-arrest bail plea..He was granted a four-week protection from arrest by the Supreme Court in its order passed on January 14. The Court had held that during this period, Teltumbde could approach the appropriate forum seeking protection..Teltumbde had moved the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court had dismissed his petition seeking quashing of proceedings against him in the Bhima Koregaon case. The Supreme Court, while passing its order, had noted that the proceedings could not be quashed at this stage considering the “investigation was getting bigger and bigger”..This period of four weeks was due to lapse on February 11. However, there was a series of quick developments after the UAPA Special Judge Kishor Vadane rejected his anticipatory bail plea on Friday, which led to his arrest from the Mumbai Airport at 3.30am on Saturday..Advocate Rohan Nahar, appearing for the accused argued that the arrest made was in violation of the Supreme Court’s orders considering that the protection granted by the Supreme Court extends until February 11..However, the Prosecutor submitted that the protection was granted for seeking pre-arrest bail from appropriate Court and the same protection stood lapsed when the Pune Court was moved with this anticipatory bail application. The Court noted,.“Impugned arrest of accused-Anand Teltumbde, by Investigating Officer, is illegal one and also amounts to contempt of order of Hon’ble Apex Court (sic)”.Teltumbde is one of the many persons whose houses were raided by the Pune Police in a multi-city crackdown in August last year. The raids were carried out in connection to the event ‘Elgar Parishad’ held in Pune to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle. This event was followed by violence and clashes..The arrested lawyers and activists were charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and were alleged to have links with Left-wing extremist groups..Read the Pune Court’s Order here:.Read the Supreme Court’s order here: