Prominent Dalit scholar and rights defender Anand Teltumbde released from Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai today after spending 957 days in jail under draconian UAPA.
Bombay High Court granted Teltumbde bail on 18 November in Elgar Parishad case.
“I am definitely happy as it has been 30 months that I have been in prison.,” he told reporters outside the prison on Saturday afternoon.
“The sad part however is that we had to spend time in jail after being booked in a fake case.”
Teltumbde who was arrest on 14 April 2020, is the third of the 16 human rights defenders arrested in the case to be released on bail. He is the first to be granted bail on the grounds of merit. Before him, the courts have granted bail to two other persons –academic and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, and 82- year-old Telugu poet Vara Vara Rao. One of them, Father Stan Swamy, passed away in custody.
