Maharashtra: Crowd gathers at Jay Stambh to mark 205th anniversary of Bhima-Koregaon battle

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Massive crowd gathered at Maharashtra's Pune to mark the 205th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle.

A large crowd of people gather at 'Jay Stambh' to visit Koregaon Bhima village to offer their tributes on the anniversary of the battle, which was fought on January 1, 1818, between the British East India Company and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy.

Violence broke out during the bicentenary celebrations of the Bhima Koregaon battle on January 1, 2018, in which one person was killed and several others were injured. The police had filed 58 cases against 162 people.

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This violence erupted after some people, reportedly with saffron flags, pelted stones at cars heading towards the village to commemorate the 200 years of the Bhima-Koregaon war on New Year's Day.

Dalit leaders and workers at the village had alleged that Hindutva activists Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide instigated the violence.

The Supreme Court on August 10, 2022, granted regular bail to activist and poet P Varavara Rao on medical grounds as he was accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case.

He was arrested on August 28, 2018, from his home in Hyderabad and was an under-trial in the Bhima Koregaon case for which an FIR was lodged by the Pune Police at Vishrambagh Police Station on January 8, 2018, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and several other provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Meanwhile, on November 10, 2022, the top court in an interim order permitted the accused Gautam Navlakha to be placed under house arrest for a period of one month considering his health condition and old age. However, the apex court was told by the counsel appearing for Gautam Navlakha, on November 17, 2022, that its order was not being complied with by the State authorities.

Navlakha, one of the several civil liberties activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been booked under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for an alleged conspiracy to topple the government.

Notably, the Bombay High Court on November 18 granted bail to Anand Teltumbde in the Bhima Koregaon case on the surety of Rs 1 lakh.

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