The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the bail petitions of lawyer Surendra Gadling and activist Jyoti Jagtap in the Bhima Koregaon case, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal also deferred the National Investigation Agency’s appeal against the bail granted to their co-accused Mahesh Raut.

They were among 16 academicians, activists and lawyers who were charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for their alleged role in instigating caste violence at Bhima Koregaon near Pune in January 2018.

Raut was granted bail on September 21, 2023, after the Bombay High Court found no material evidence supporting the allegations against him. However, the Supreme Court stayed the order based on the National Investigation Agency’s claim that Raut had links to banned Maoist outfits.

During the hearing, advocate Anand Grover, representing Gadling, said his client was a lawyer who represented the “so-called Maoists”. In response, Justice Bindal remarked that Gadling was “not just representing but doing many other things”.

Gadling denied the allegations, but Bindal said the court was only considering the accusations at this stage.

Bindal also claimed that Gadling was delaying the trial. Grover refuted this, stating that only the Section 207 Code of Criminal Procedure proceedings were ongoing and sought time to provide records. Section 207 of the code requires persons accused of a crime to be provided with copies of documents relied upon by the prosecution.

Senior Advocate Mihir Desai, appearing for Jagtap and Raut, requested an early hearing. He noted that while the Bombay High Court granted Raut bail, its order was stayed, and the Supreme Court had continued the stay. Desai also pointed out that last month, two other persons accused in the case, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale, were granted bail after the National Investigation Agency did not oppose their release.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju argued that the High Court’s bail order for Raut was “absolutely perverse”.

The bench decided to hear all matters together and adjourned the hearing, with the date to be specified in the order.

Gadling, arrested in July 2018, and Jagtap, arrested in September 2020, have been in custody since.

In addition to Rona and Wilson, seven others who have been accused in the case have secured bail over the last six years, namely Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Varavara Rao and Shoma Sen. Jesuit priest Stan Swamy died in custody at a Mumbai hospital in July 2021, nearly nine months after he was arrested.

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