Bail plea of Gadling, Sen deferred till September 14

Pune: The sessions court on Thursday deferred till September 14 the hearing on the bail pleas of noted human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling and Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, who were arrested with three other rights activists on June 6 for their alleged links with the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the Bhima-Koregaon clashes.

The prosecution sought postponement before the court of special judge K.D. Wadane on grounds that assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Shivaji Pawar, the investigating officer in the case, was in New Delhi. Taking strong objection to the prosecution’s reasons, advocate Surendra Gadling, conducting his own defence, alleged that it was merely indulging in delaying tactics which was tantamount to continual harassment of the arrested activists and denial of their rights. He further challenged the Yerwada prison authorities’ denial of reading materials to the arrested activists.

Ms. Sen and Mr. Gadling were arrested along with activists Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson during a crackdown by a city police team over the contentious ‘Elgaar Parishad’ organized at Pune and the Bhima-Koregaon riots.