Bhima-Koregaon case: Supreme Court's stay on arrest of five human rights activists

In India, the Supreme Court on Tuesday banned the arrest of all five human rights activists detained in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case by Maharashtra Police on Tuesday. But Maharashtra police allowed them to remain in their houses till September 6 in the next hearing. At the same time, the Center of India and the Maharashtra government will reply in the matter by September 5.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing before the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Deepak Misra, had mentioned this petition and requested the hearing on Wednesday itself. The bench of Chief Justice Deepak Mishra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandchud heard the hearing after four and a half hours after completion of the hearing of the special hearing court. After hearing both the sides, the court ordered the accused to remain in the house till September 6.

During the hearing, the bench remarked that the differences in the democratic system are like the safety valves. If they are stopped then the pressure cooker will explode. At the same time, questioning the arrest of Maharashtra Police after nine months of the incident.

During the hearing senior lawyers A M Singhvi, Indira Jaysingh, Rajiv Dhawan, Dushyanthan Dave, Raju Ramachandran, Amarendra Sharan and CU Singh debated during the hearing. They said that the arrests made by the Maharashtra Police are an attempt to crush the disagreement. These people are working for tribals. One of these lawyers Sudha Bharadwaj has decided to leave the citizenship of America and work for tribals. The police came to arrest them too. They said that in December last year in the violence in Bhima-Koregaon, these people were not even on the spot. But they are still made an accused.

AAAG Tushar Mehta argued by the Government of Maharashtra. He said that strangers can not demand bail for giving bail plea to the accused. He said that no accused has come to the Supreme Court. The Delhi High Court is still hearing the case.

Singhvi, submitted by the accused, said that a comprehensive issue has been raised in the petition. This is a matter of personal rights under Article 21. On the other hand, Gautam Navlakha and Sudha Bhardwaj have gone to related high court. But the chief justice strictly rejected this argument.

Historians Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Devaki Jain, Satish Deshpande and Maju Daruwala had filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.

Maharashtra Police on Tuesday arrested Gautam Navlakha from Delhi, Sudha Bharadwaj from Faridabad, Varra Rao from Andhra Pradesh, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonzalvis arrested on all India raids on Tuesday. Navlakhla and Bhardwaj had stopped the High Court from carrying Maharashtra Police and ordered them to remain in the house.

While hearing the petition, the apex court said that all the five human rights activists arrested in the Bhima-Koregaon case should not be sent to jail, but to be interned in the house until next 6th September. Simultaneously, the Center and the Maharashtra government to keep their side in the matter till September 5. The bench also questioned the arrest of these people after nine months of the incident from Maharashtra Police.

Significantly, the AllGar Council near Pune had organized a program on December 31, 2017, due to which there was violence in Bhima-Koregaon. The police arrested these people for alleged role in this violence.