Dalit rights activist Dr Anand Teltumbde, one of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case of 2018, has approached the Bombay High Court seeking permission to travel abroad in April and May for academic purposes..The bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata sought a response from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Teltumbde's plea and listed the matter for hearing after two weeks..The NIA charged Teltumbde with being one of the convenors of the Elgar Parishad event, which allegedly triggered the violence in 2018. Teltumbde has consistently denied these charges and also filed a petition for discharge before the High Court.A special court had previously rejected his bail plea in July 2021, ruling that he was a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). However, the Bombay High Court granted him bail in November 2022, and this decision was later upheld by the Supreme Court..In the application seeking permission to travel to abroad, it is stated that Teltumbde is a leading authority on Dr Ambedkar, the Dalit movement, caste, public policy and democratic rights in India."Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam has selected the applicant as a visiting scholar based on his "internationally renowned scholarship and expertise in the area of social justice". It is a four-week programme involving giving seminars, delivering a lecture on Ambedkar on 14th April, 2025 conducting master classes with Ph.D. candidates, post-graduate teachings and meetings with individual scholars and faculty," the plea adds.It also states that he has been invited by the Leiden Institute for Asia Studies, Leiden University in the Netherlands to deliver a lecture on April 16. Further, Nottingham Trent University in United Kingdom has also invited him also Scholar-in-Residence for the first two weeks in May.The application also makes mention of invitations by three more universities in the UK, including the University of Oxford..Since the bail conditions include travel restrictions on Teltumbde, he has moved the High Court. He has also sought release of his passport to facilitate his visa applications. .The plea has been filed through Advocate Devyani Kulkarni.
