Bhima Koregaon: Pune Court sends Sudha Bharadwaj to Police Custody till Nov 6

Trade Unionist and Rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj has been sent to Police Custody till November 6 by a Pune Court in relation to her alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon case..Bharadwaj was arrested from her residence in Faridabad on Saturday morning and produced before the UAPA Special Judge KD Vadane in Pune on the same day. Bharadwaj, along with Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, has been sent to Police custody till November 6..Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry representing Bharadwaj requested the Court for some facilities to be given to her to ensure maximum dignity while in incarceration. The Court has, reportedly, granted some of these requests like medical assistance..Special Judge Vadane had yesterday rejected the Bail application of the three accused via an order on Friday following which Gonsalves and Ferreira had approached the Bombay High Court seeking interim relief. However, a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court had refused to grant ad-interim relief to the two..The Pune Court had observed the following while rejecting the bail,.“At this stage, from material collected by Investigating Officer, prima facie, it reveals the involvement of the present applicants/accused. Moreover, the investigation is at a very crucial stage, therefore, in my view, the present applicants/accused are not entitled to be released on bail (sic).”.Ferreira and Gonsalves were arrested by the Pune Police on Friday, while Bharadwaj was taken into custody on Saturday morning..The Bombay High Court had, however, granted interim relief to activist Gautam Navlakha, who is also accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. The Court directed that no coercive action be taken against him till the next date of hearing..The three accused, along with other activists and lawyers like Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha were arrested/detained by the Pune Police earlier in September in a nationwide crackdown. Subsequently, a Supreme Court judgment delivered in September last week placed them under house arrest in their own homes for a period of four weeks..After the period of house arrest lapsed on Friday, the Pune Court rejected their bail application and facilitated their arrest.