Justice Dipankar Datta, a judge on the Supreme Court, disqualified himself on Thursday from hearing Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira's bail requests in the Bhima Koregaon case. A Division Bench of Justices Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta heard the applications brought against the Bombay High Court's denial of their request for bail. Justice Datta stated his decision to recuse himself as soon as the case was heard.

Gonsalves' senior attorney Rebecca John urged the high court to list the case promptly. The bench decided to put the case on the calendar for January 16th. "List on 16.01.2023, before a Bench of which Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dipankar Datta is not a member".

The petitioners were detained on August 28, 2018, following their arrest for allegedly having Maoist ties in relation to the Bhima Koregaon violence in January 2018.

They have appealed the Bombay High Court's decision, which denied them default bail while granting Sudha Bharadwaj, a co-accused, the same benefit, to the Supreme Court. The High Court rejected their appeal for a review of the decision to deny them default bail in May 2022. Even though he was not on the bench that considered their bail pleas, Justice Datta served as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court at the relevant time.

Case Title: Vernon vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
Citation: Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.)  No(s).  5423/2022