Supreme Court to hear Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in 2016 arson case on Oct. 14

India’s Supreme Court will hear Surendra Gadling’s bail plea on Oct. 14, reopening a case in which the advocate has spent more than seven years in jail.

Gadling is challenging a January 2023 decision by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, which refused to grant him bail in the 2016 Surjagarh iron ore mine arson case. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta set the hearing date.

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Another case was foisted on him at the same time.

Gadling’s lawyer, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, told the court that his client had already secured bail in the separate Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. Sibal argued that the people accused of burning the trucks had also been granted bail. The government’s counsel, Additional Solicitor General S. V. Raju, said he needed to point out the evidence against Gadling.

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I have to point out the evidence against him.

The case concerns an incident on Dec. 25, 2016, when Maoist rebels allegedly set fire to 76 vehicles used to transport iron ore from the Surajgarh mines in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. Investigators accuse Gadling of aiding the rebels, sharing confidential information about government activities and maps of certain areas, and encouraging local people to oppose the mines.

Gadling faces charges under India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code. He is also accused in the Elgar Parishad case, involving alleged provocative speeches at a 2017 Pune conclave that police said preceded violence near the Koregaon-Bhima War Memorial. A Supreme Court judge, Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, recused himself from Gadling’s bail plea on July 21.

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List the appeal for hearing on October 14.