HC Rejects Review Plea For Default Bail to Varavara Rao, Gonsalves & Ferreira

Bombay High Court on Wednesday, 4 May, rejected a review application filed by Bhima Koregaon accused Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao and Arun Ferreira seeking bail and factual corrections in the order refusing them default bail.

(Photo: Mekhala Saran/The Quint)

Bombay High Court on Wednesday, 4 May, rejected a review application filed by Bhima Koregaon accused Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao and Arun Ferreira seeking bail and factual corrections in the order refusing them default bail.

"No case for exercise of review jurisdiction is made out,” the court said, and, according to LiveLaw, added:

"A point which was not urged, is impermissable to be reviewed.”

A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jemadar had reserved their order on 22 March.

Previously, on 1 December, the court had denied default bail to Gonsalves, Rao and Ferreira, as well as five of their co-accused, on the ground that they had not filed their default bail applications within the stipulated period – 60 days of their arrest – and before the chargesheet was filed.

The court also held that even though the Pune Sessions Judge extended their detention without jurisdiction as he was not a special judge under the NIA Act, they were not entitled to relief.

The court did, however, grant bail to their co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj in the same order.

All eight who were denied relief claimed that the same had happened on account of a factual error, and like Bharadwaj, they too had filed default bail applications in the trial court within the stipulated period.

Gonsalves, Rao and Ferreira claimed that they applied for default bail on 30 November, just four days after Bharadwaj had.

(With inputs from LiveLaw.)