Hearing the petition on the activists’ arrests held in Bhima Koregaon case on Thursday, the Supreme Court extended the house arrest till September 12. Earlier the apex court had pulled up the Maharashtra Police officers for press meet they had called, knowing the matter is in sub-judice.
Reacting to the arguments made by the counsel, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Maharashtra Police — who arrested five activists in the Bhima Koregaon case— Chief Justice Dipak Misra said, “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.”
Earlier, replying back to the plea, filed by historian Romila Thapar and four others, the police stated that they have ample amount to proofs to prove their case in the court. These activists are charged with allegations to carry out violence, planned ambush against country and security forces. They said to the Supreme Court, “Activists not arrested because of their dissenting opinion, there is sufficient material to dispel this impression.”
Soon after the arrests of five activists — Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, activists Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves — the Supreme Court observed the matter on Wednesday and ordered house arrest till September 6. The bench also ordered Maharashtra Police to present the evidence till September 5.
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