The sessions court on Friday deferred till September 27 the hearing on the bail pleas of human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling and Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, who were arrested with three other activists on June 6 for their alleged links with the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the Bhima-Koregaon clashes.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar moved the court to shift the five arrested activists, including Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson, to separate jails, citing security issues at the Yerwada Jail.
In his counter-arguments, defence counsel Pratap Vitankar said the move to transfer the activists was a ploy on the part of police authorities to delay the trial.
A statement issued by the activists’ lawyers said: “The jail administration has even refused to provide them with warm clothes. They are being harassed under the guise of law.”
