Elgar case: 8 activists denied default bail tell High Court they will seek review of order
Mumbai(PTI): Eight activists accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, who were denied default bail by the Bombay High Court earlier this month, told the HC on Thursday that they will file review petitions against the order which was based on a "factual error".
The accused activists and academicians -- Sudhir Dawale, Dr P Varavara Rao, Rona Wilson, advocate Surendra Gadling, Professor Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, -- had earlier this week filed an application for 'speaking to minutes', which is used for getting minor corrections made to an order of a court.
On Thursday, a bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar said the court could not pass any orders accepting or denying the claims made by the parties, or even listen to the arguments on merits since the accused had preferred to move the speaking to minutes application.
Senior advocate Sudeep Pasbola, who appeared for one of the accused activists in the case, then told the bench that the accused will withdraw the speaking to minutes application and file fresh pleas seeking a review of the HC order.
Pasbola said the accused will file the fresh plea/s in January 2022, once the HC reopens after the Christmas vacations.
The bench then said it was not granting any liberty or specific permission to the accused to file the review petition. However, if the procedure established under the law provided for a review petition, they were free to file it, the HC said.
On December 1 this year, the bench of Justices Shinde and Jamadar granted default bail to Sudha Bharadwaj, also an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, on the ground that the Pune sessions court, which had granted extension of time to the Pune police for filing of charge sheet after the mandatory 90-day period was over, did not have the jurisdiction to do so.
At that time, the bench rejected the same relief for the eight other co-accused in the case.
The HC then said these eight persons had not exercised their right to seek default bail in time. It had observed that while Bharadwaj filed a plea before the Pune court seeking default bail as soon as the 90-day period for filing of the charge sheet in the case got over, these eight accused had delayed filing of their applications.
On Tuesday, however, the eight accused persons informed the bench through their counsel R Sathyanarayanan that its judgment denying them default bail was based on a "factual error".
They said Dhawale, Wilson, Gadling, Sen and Raut had filed default bail pleas before the Pune sessions court on September 26, 2018, after the 90-day period of their arrest got over and the charge sheet remained to be filed.
The activists said they were arrested on July 6 2018, and the first charge sheet against them was filed only on November 15, 2018. They filed their default bail pleas in time, but the same are still pending hearing before the sessions court, they said.
Gonsalves, Rao and Ferriera told the high court that they had applied for default bail on November 30, 2018, just four days after Bharadwaj filed her application before the Pune court.
They told the HC that the Pune sessions court had rejected their default bail applications along with Bharadwaj's default bail plea through a common order passed on November 6, 2019.
It was this November 6, 2019 order that the high court bench of Justice Shinde had set aside on December 1 this year in Bharadwaj's case, they said.
The Elgar Parishad case was earlier with the Pune police and it is now being handled by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the 'Elgar Parishad' conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts.
The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
