Elgar Parishad case: Bombay HC grants bail to Anand Teltumbde

The NIA has charged Teltumbde with serving as the organiser of the Elgar Parishad conference on December 31, 2017, which allegedly sparked violence at Bhima Koregaon the next day, killing one person.

Prof. Anand Teltumbde, a former IIT professor and Dalit scholar who was charged with violating the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Friday.

The NIA has been given a week to appeal to the Supreme Court, implying that Teltumde will remain in jail despite being granted bail.

A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Milind Jadhav issued the ruling in response to an appeal Teltumbde filed in 2021 against the Special NIA Court’s denial of his merit-based bail request. The 73-year-old turned himself into the NIA on April 14, 2020, in accordance with orders from the Supreme Court, and was thereafter taken into custody.

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The court noted that only provisions 38 and 39 of the UAPA were supported by evidence and that offences under sections 13, 16, and 18 were not. On execution of a PR bond for Rs 1 lakh with two sureties, bail was granted.

The NIA has charged Teltumbde with serving as the organiser of the Elgar Parishad conference on December 31, 2017, which is said to have sparked violence at Bhima Koregaon the next day, killing one person.

The Pune Police and then the NIA widened their investigation into the violence after alleging a plot to kill the Prime Minister and bring down democracy in the nation.

The NIA said that Teltumbde is an active member of the outlawed CPI (Maoists) and is “deeply involved in furthering of its agenda.” and In addition to opposing Teltumbde’s request for bail, the NIA charged that he shared ‘restricted literature’ from his overseas conferences with him and encouraged his late brother Milind to join the movement.

Security personnel shot and killed Milind only last year. He purportedly served as the unit secretary for the outlawed CPI in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Chattisgarh (M).

Anand Teltumbde, a Dalit scholar who is wed to Rama, the granddaughter of Dr. BR Ambedkar, stated in his bail application that he opposes Maoist doctrine and hasn’t spoken to his brother in 25 years.

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