SC stays verdict on arrest of 5 activists

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved orders on a plea demanding the release of five activists arrested in connection with the Bhima-koregaon incident and an independent inquiry into the arrests, and asked Maharashtra police to hand over the complete case diary.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said it would deliver its order on September 24, and extended the house arrest of activists Vara Vara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha. The five were arrested by the Pune police in nationwide simultaneous raids on August 28.

Historian Romila Thapar and five social activists had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the arrests, terming them as an attempt to muzzle free speech and dissent.

Before the court reserved its verdict, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Maharashtra government, produced purported letters to establish the alleged Maoist links of the arrested accused.

Mehta also took the court through the letters that were purportedly exchanged between Surendra Gadling, a lawyer arrested in June this year along with five others, and Vara Vara Rao.

The petitioners, however, countered Mehta’s submission, terming it cooked-up evidence.

Mehta said the letters also speak of force deployment in six areas, of which four saw ambushes by insurgents on a later date.

Investigations into the case were at a “very premature state” and senior officers were supervising it, Mehta added. Efforts were still on to retrieve data from computers and other electronic devices seized from the activists, he said.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the complainant in the case, urged the court not to interfere with an ongoing investigation. He said a special investigation team was set up in cases where the political establishment is involved in a case. “Our judiciary is robust… Our system has the resilience to deal with overzealous officers.”