Bhima Koregaon: Supreme Court judge Justice Dipankar Datta recuses from hearing bail pleas of Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira

Supreme Court judge, Justice Dipankar Datta, on Thursday, recused himself from hearing the bail applications of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case of 2018.

A Division Bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta was hearing challenges by Gonsalves and Ferreira to Bombay High Court's orders rejecting their bail applications.

The matter will now be listed on January 16, 2023 before a bench of which Justice Datta is not a member.

In May last year, the accused filed pleas in the Bhima Koregaon case seeking review of the High Court's December 2021 judgment refusing them default bail.

They sought correction of an alleged error in the judgment and consequently, prayed that they be granted bail.

Eight accused had been refused bail by the High Court on December 1, 2021 while another co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj had been granted bail.

The High Court in its December 1 order, while demarcating Bharadwaj's plea from the other eight, had noted that Bharadwaj’s application for default bail was pending on the date the application for extension of time to file the chargesheet was made by the Pune Police.

On May 4, 2022, a Bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar stated that there was no factual error in the judgment as claimed by the accused and rejected the pleas.

They then moved the top court in appeal.

[Read Order]