Advocate Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon - Elgar Parishad Caste Violence case, has petitioned the Bombay High Court to overturn the Special NIA Court's denial of his default bail application.

To justify the delay in filing the appeal, Gadling invoked Section 21(4) of the NIA Act and blamed the prison department for the nearly two-month delay in receiving certified copies of the Special Court's order.

After hearing his counsel for a few minutes, a division bench led by Justice AS Gadkari issued a notice to the National Investigation Agency, seeking to first learn its position on the 10-day delay in filing the appeal.

Advocate Yashodeep Deshmukh was appointed by the HC's Legal Services Committee to represent Gadling.

Gadling (54) was arrested in June 2018 and charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code along with other civil liberty activists, alleging a larger conspiracy to overthrow the government and further the Maoist agenda.

The accused claim that the Special Pune Judge who extended their detention beyond 90 days in 2018 lacked jurisdiction because he was not a Special Judge under the NIA Act. On the same grounds, the High Court granted default bail to co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj on December 1, 2021.

The court, however, denied the relief and Writ Petition of eight others, including Gadling, on the grounds that their default bail applications were not filed within the stipulated period, which is 90 days after their arrest and before the filing of the charge sheet.
A review petition was also denied, but the HC clarified that its findings were based on the evidence presented to it. Gadling then pursued his default bail plea, which was still pending in the trial court. A default bail rejection on June 28, 2022 has been challenged in the Bombay High Court.