Arun Fereira and Vernon Gonsalves were today granted bail in the Bhima Koregaon case by the Supreme Court of India. The activists were detained in August 2018 under the strict Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on grounds of inciting violence. The apex court while granting bail stated that while the allegations against the two may have been serious, that alone is not the only justification for denying bail. The SC further noted that they had been detained for more than five years. Their request for bail had previously been denied by the Bombay High Court in December 2021. Gonsalves and Vernon then went to the Supreme Court of India.
Arun Ferreira is an Indian activist. He was imprisoned for five years until being found not guilty in 2012. He was detained in 2007 on suspicion of having ties to the Indian Naxalite organisation. He started out as a criminal defence attorney, defending political prisoners. He is being housed in Taloja prison with other suspects in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon incident after being detained once more in August of that year.
His close ties to his family, especially his uncle Father Raymond D’Silva, a liberation theologian, had a significant impact on Ferreira’s career and interests in social activity.
He was detained in Nagpur for four years and eight months in his late 30s under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on charges of sedition. He started sketching at this point, and his drawings served as the first chapter of Ferreira’s book Colours of the Cage (Aleph).
Arun Ferreira began a hunger strike in 2008 together with other political prisoners. Arun Ferreira faced 11 charges under the UAPA and the Arms Act during the length of his sentence.
Ferreira was once more detained in August 2018 in connection with the “Elgaar Parishad” celebration, which commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018.