No link between Elgar Parishad and Koregaon Bhima violence, two accused tell HC

Activists Rona Wilson and Shoma Sen arrested in connection with the Elgar ParishadMaoist links case told the Bombay High Court on Monday that there was no connection between the Elgar Parishad event held on December 31 3017 and the Koregaon Bhima violence that took place a day afterTheir counsels senior advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover further told HC that the FIR against the activists had been registered in the aftermath of the Koregaon Bhima incident which pertained to rioting and violence and not to any terrorist activityThere was no legal ground for the activists to have been charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA the counsels told a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ JamadarAdvocate Jaising also raised questions on the authenticity and legal admissibility of the electronic evidence the National Investigating Agency NIA claimed to have recovered from Wilsons computer and from the electronic devices of the other accused in the case She said the HC must direct an investigation into the alleged tampering of legal evidenceAlso Read Elgar ParishadMaoist links case Sudha Bharadwaj not entitled to default bail Maharashtra govt NIA tell HCThe bench was hearing pleas filed by Wilson and Sen challenging their prosecution under UAPA and seeking that all charges against them in the case be quashedIn their pleas filed in HC in April this year Wilson and Sen said the case against them was based on forged and hearsay evidence that was planted on devices allegedly belonging to coaccused WilsonThe activists cited the report of a US digital forensic firm which claimed an incriminating letter and other material had been planted on the computers of Wilson and several of his coaccused in the caseOn Monday the advocates for the accused told HC that the Elgar Parishad event and the one at Koregoan Bhima took place at a distance of 7 kilometres and two separate FIRs were registered for the two incidentsThe Maharashtra government had said in the Supreme Court that Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote and some others were responsible for the Koregoan Bhima violence Jaising saidMy submission is that there is no connection between the Parishad event and the violence which took place The complaint in this case Elgar Parishad was made eight days later When Milind Ekbote approached Supreme Court for anticipatory bail the Maharashtra government submitted in an affidavit that he is responsible for the attack and hence his prearrest bail was rejected Jaising told HCThen they changed and said that these people the activists and their coaccused are responsible Can these two narratives stand she said Jaising further said the petitioners had been in prison as undertrials for three years with no bail and with no idea when the trial was likely to beginYou can prosecute me for the violence but where does UAPA come in Where is the allegation of sovereignty and integrity of India Every riot is not an offence under UAPA This is a case of selective prosecution she saidOn the issues raised on the credibility of the electronic evidence cited by the NIA the HC said the same would be considered by the special court at the time of trialGrover and Jaising however said irrespective of what the trial court held the HC must consider what constituted legal electronic evidence and what did notHC will continue hearing the pleas on August 4The same HC bench reserved its verdict on the temporary bail plea filed by lawyer Surendra Gadling another accused in the ElgarParishad caseThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever