Only house arrest till next hearing: SC gives interim relief to five arrested activists in Bhima Koregaon case

NEW DELHI: Giving interim relief to the five rights activists who were arrested by Maharashtra Police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that they will be be kept under house arrest till the next date of hearing. The apex court will hear the case again on September 6.

The order was given by a three-judge bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud on the petition filed against the arrest of five activists. The plea was filed by historian Romila Thapar along with human right activists Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maya Darnall. 

The petitioners had urged the SC to order an independent probe into arrest of the activists. They have also urged the SC to seek an explanation from Maharashtra for "sweeping round of arrest" in the case. 

Arguing for the petitioners, lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the FIR has no mention of the arrested people and there are no allegations that they were a part of any meeting. "The larger issue is the chilling effect merely because one does not agree with you (govt)," Singhvi said.

Strongly opposing the plea, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta says people with no connection to the case are placing the matter before the SC.

Maharashtra Police had on Tuesday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

Security officials said two letters recovered over the past few months, indicating Maoist plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, were also a reason for the raids.

Searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.

Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj, Farreira, Gonzalves and Navalakha were arrested under IPC Section 153 (A), which relates to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language and committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.