Seven accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence seeking default bail yet again told the Bombay High Court on Monday that the Pune Sessions Court had no jurisdiction to take cognizance of the chargesheet filed against them.
Advocate Sudeep Pasbola appeared for Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira before a division bench of justices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar.
They petitioners challenging the order passed by sessions judge K.D. Wadane on September 5, 2019 rejecting their default bail pleas. They had sought for bail as the judge had no jurisdiction to take cognizance as original jurisdiction as the case was not committed by the magistrate.
Mr. Pasbola argued that as all the accused are charged with scheduled offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), only a designated special court could have taken cognisance of the case.
He also pointed out that the order passed by the sessions court judge cannot be sustained as the State government has already constituted a special court. He added in the absence of special court under the National Investigation Agency, they ought to have approached the Magistrate Court in light of the definition of courts under the UAPA.
The court will hear the Advocate General of Maharashtra and additional solicitor general for NIA on August 24.
