SC extends house arrest of activists
THE SC TOLD THE MAHARASHTRA GOVT TO MAKE ITS POLICE ‘MORE RESPONSIBLE’ ON MATTERS PENDING BEFORE THE COURT
NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday extended till September 12 the house arrest of five prominent activists who were picked up by the Pune Police recently over alleged links to Maoists. The police action has been condemned by Opposition leaders and other public figures as an attack on civil rights. A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also criticised remarks by Pune’s assistant commissioner of police over the arrests.
“You must ask your police officials to be more responsible. The matter is before us and we don’t want to hear from police officials that the Supreme Court is wrong,” the bench told additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for Maharashtra government. The apex court bench told the Maharashtra government to make its police officials “more responsible” on matters pending before the court.
The activists were earlier placed under house arrest till September 6 and not sent to jail on the Supreme Court’s order after a petition asked the court to order an independent probe into the Bhimakoregaonviolenceearlier this year.
The arrests were part of an investigation into violence in Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra on January 1 during the bicentennial celebration of a British-era war. “Dissent is the safety valve of democracy... the pressure cooker will burst if you don’t allow the safety valves,” the court had observed in the previous hearing, questioning the arrest of the activists nearly nine months after the violence.
On Thursday, Mehta told the top court that keeping the activists under house arrest would hamper the ongoing police investigation. The Maharashtra government told the SC on Wednesday that the activists were arrested because evidence linked them with the banned CPI (Maoist) group, and not because of their dissenting views. The Bombay HC also criticised Maharashtra Police on Thursday for releasing information to the media about sensitive cases.
CONTINUED ON P 10