New Delhi: In a boost for Maharashtra government, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea to set up a special investigation team on a request by the five activists arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case.
By 2:1 majority, the court held that arrest of the activists was not because of dissent or airing difference of opinion. Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and AM Khanwilkar, by majority, allowed the Maharashtra police to carry on with the investigation.
They also dismissed the plea for taking the probe away from the Maharashtra police, saying it is not for the accused to dictate the terms of a criminal investigation. The majority verdict extended the order of house arrest by four weeks to enable the activists approach the trial judge to secure bail and other reliefs.
Justice Chandrachud, the third judge on the bench, dissented with the majority opinion. He said that technical arguments should not come in the way of safeguarding personal liberty. The judge also took umbrage at the press conference by the Maharashtra police regarding arrests and evidence gathered in this case. Justice Chandrachud pressed for a need of a court-monitored probe.
However, by the majority opinion, it is now clear that Maharashtra police has received a shot in the arm and it can now go ahead with the investigation.
Simultaneous raids had targeted the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi.
Rao, Bharadwaj, 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.
Subsequently, a writ petition was filed in the top court by noted historian Romila Thapar and four other eminent individuals, contending the arrest of the activists was an instance of punishing dissent and difference of opinion.
As an interim reprieve, the bench had said the activists will be placed under house arrest and will not be jailed.
During the hearing in the last week of August, the court had also remarked that “dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow dissent, the pressure valve of democracy will burst."
In its reply affidavit, Maharashtra government has strongly rebutted that the five activists were arrested due to their ‘dissent’ or ‘difference in their political or other ideologies’.
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