Dissent is the safety of democracy, it must be allowed: Supreme Court

After hearing the Public Interest Litigation filed by the eminent intellectuals on the random arrests of the five human rights activists, Supreme Court granted house arrest of the activists till September 6. Justice Chandrachud also stated that ‘dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed then the pressure cooker may burst’.

In addition to granting house arrest to the five activists — Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves — the apex court also issued a notice to the Maharashtra government and other parties and seeks their replies by September 5. The police have arrested them after conducting raids in Delhi, Faridabad, Goa, Mumbai, Ranchi and Hyderabad.

Making it clear that the arrest done by the police is questioning the right to dissent in the country. Justice Chandrachud observed, “dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed then the pressure cooker may burst.”

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Representing the case for the activists, senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan said, “The arrest was done randomly, and is illegal and arbitrary.”  The PIL was filed by Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Dushyant Dave against the arrest of activists Sudha Bhardwaj and activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon Case.

Earlier in the day, the police had stated that they have all the supporting evidence to prove their case. To which the court replied that why can’t all the papers be handed over to the activists. The court also asked the Pune police officials when will they be able to present the translated document in the court and why is it that only partial proof was submitted? The next hearing for the case is September 6.

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