Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday said activists arrested in the Elgar Parishad Maoist links case had constantly complained about lack of facilities in Navi Mumbai's Taloja prison but were now opposing a special court order directing that they be transferred to other jails. This situation, a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar said, seemed 'confusing' and 'paradoxical'.
The bench made the observation while adjourning a bunch of pleas filed on behalf of arrested activists Mahesh Raut, Anand Teltumbde, Surendra Gadling, and Sudhir Dhawale opposing an order of a special NIA court approving the Taloja prison authorities' request for transferring 10 accused persons, all-male, in the case to other prisons across the state. Raut's counsel Vijay Hiremath told HC that Raut was to be transferred out of Taloja prison to the Mumbai central prison. Advocate R Sathyanarayanan told HC he was representing Teltumbde, Gadling, and Dhawale in a plea filed seeking reliefs similar to those sought by Raut. Earlier this week, Raut as well as Rama Teltumbde and Minal Gadling, wives of academician Anand Teltumbde, and lawyer Surendra Gadling respectively, and Sharad Gaikwad, a friend of activist Sudhir Dhawale, had filed pleas challenging the transfer orders stating they were being punished for having to demand their rights as undertrials.
Earlier this year, Taloja jail authorities had sought to transfer all 10 male accused in the Elgar Parishad case to other prisons in the state on the ground that they, through their lawyers and kin, were making 'false complaints' to put pressure on the jail administration. On April 1, special NIA Judge DE Kothalikar allowed the transfer request, though the order is yet to be implemented. The petitioners, in their pleas in HC, said the special court's order permitting the transfer of the accused to 'any other unspecified prison in the state' did not follow due process of law.
Read:Elgar Parishad Case: NIA, State govt oppose Sudha Bharadwaj's bail plea in Bombay HC
They said, in the plea, that the Elgar Parishad case accused had taken care of each other during ailments, and further, they needed to remain in the same prison as they had been lodged in it since being arrested and it allowed their families and lawyers to coordinate with each other in preparing their defense, addressing concerns, etc.