The most challenging phase of incarceration, according to Sagar Gorkhe, one of the activists accused in the Elgar Parishad case, is the “agonising wait” for release after bail has been granted.Gorkhe and fellow accused Ramesh Gaichor were granted bail by the Bombay high court on January 23. A division bench comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and S.C. Chandak allowed their appeals against the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court’s earlier rejection of bail, primarily on grounds of parity with other co-accused who had already been released, as well as their prolonged detention.The two members of the cultural group Kabir Kala Manch were arrested in September 2020 in connection with the 2018 Elgar Parishad case and had spent over five years and five months in judicial custody at the Taloja Central Prison without commencement of trial.Gorkhe spoke to The Wire shortly after his release from Taloja prison late in the evening on Tuesday (January 27). He described the days since the bail order as profoundly difficult, marked by overwhelming and conflicting emotions. To cope with insomnia amid the turmoil, he had to rely on medication to sleep. “I at least managed to catch sleep for a few hours; Ramesh would stay awake the whole night,” Gorkhe shared.“We are robbed of five years of our lives, so we are five years behind,” Gorkhe said. “Things have changed, even people have changed in these five years.”Just like with their release, the two were also arrested together. Long-time friends, Gorkhe and Gaichor are cultural activists who have had a long association with the Kabir Kala Manch, an organisation involved in anti-caste campaigns in Maharashtra. In 2011, however, the then Congress-led government accused the organisation of being a front for the banned Maoist movement in the state. Ever since, any association with the Kabir Kala Manch has been viewed as illegal by law enforcement.Both Gorkhe and Gaichor have faced incarceration in the past as well, and an earlier case is still pending against them.Speaking to The Wire on the phone, Gaichor said he had, like any other person facing incarceration, dreamt of release ‘every moment he spent in jail’. “Now that the day is finally here, there is a deep sense of relief, sure, but also a sense of regret that one of our friends is still languishing in jail.”Gaichor was speaking of advocate and human rights defender Surendra Gadling, one of the first persons to be arrested in the Elgar Parishad case on June 6, 2018, but who is yet to be released.In all, 16 persons were arrested in the case. Of them, 14 have been released, either on bail or on temporary bail. One of them, Jharkhand-based Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, died in custody in 2021. Swamy was 84 at the time of his death.Gadling, a criminal lawyer from Nagpur who has handled cases under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act among other laws, was along with the Elgar Parishad case shown as an accused in a case of arson in Gadchiroli. He was named as an accused in the 2016 case only in 2019.His co-defendant in the Elgar Parishad case, Varavara Rao, was also named as an accused in the Gadchiroli arson case. Rao, a revolutionary poet, was released on bail on medical grounds in 2021.Gadling, being a practising lawyer, decided to fight his own case in both the Mumbai NIA court and the Aheri sessions court in Gadchiroli. The hearing in Gadchiroli, however, has been a big challenge for him. The court there has been vacant for a long time, and the state police, citing “security” as a reason, have tried to deny him the opportunity to appear physically before the court to present his case. Gadling has filed a discharge application before the trial court.The last judge handling the case in the Aheri court had raised pertinent issues over the delay in conducting the trial – which is yet to begin – and pointed to the resulting injustice to Gadling. On December 31, the judge was transferred.The Supreme Court has now directed the state government to finish the trial expeditiously, even as a new trial court judge is yet to be appointed.Both Gorkhe and Gaichor expressed concern and sadness over Gadling’s ongoing incarceration. “We had hoped that all three of us would be out together. That moment of stepping out without our comrade [Gadling] was the heaviest,” Gaichor said.Gorkhe said only a “brave heart” like Gadling can face the state’s injustice with such courage. “When we were about to leave, we got to meet Gadling. He tightly hugged the two of us. He had a constant smile on his face and saw us off with the same old warmth that he usually expresses. But it was hard for us to leave him behind … our eyes were moist.”Both Gaichor and Gorkhe underwent several days of questioning before the NIA finally arrested them in September 2020. On September 5, 2020, just two days before their arrest, the two had jointly recorded a video in which they accused the NIA of coercing them into giving a “confessional statement” saying they were part of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) group. They were allegedly also asked to write an apology letter, which they refused to do.Kabir Kala Manch activists Sagar Gorkhe & Ramesh Gaichor have alleged that they’re being forced by the NIA to give confessional statements claiming they are a part of Maoist organization. The two refused, and were arrested today.(This video was recorded on Sep 5.)@thewire_in pic.twitter.com/1YytI1CGXs— Sukanya Shantha (@sukanyashantha) September 7, 2020Soon after, the two were taken into custody. Gorkhe recalls that their heads were held high when they walked into jail. “We walked out the same way, with our heads high. We lost five and a half years in jail, but our dignity and pride are still intact. We didn’t let the state falsely implicate more people on the basis of false confessions they were trying to extract from us,” Gorkhe said.