The Maharashtra police had arrested them on August 28 in connection with an FIR lodged following a conclave -- ‘Elgaar Parishad’ -- held on December 31 last year that had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village in the state.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere in the arrest of five rights activists in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence case and declined to appoint a SIT for probe into their arrest.
The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in a 2:1 verdict, refused the plea seeking the immediate release of the activists.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had reserved the judgment on September 20 after counsel for both parties, including senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Harish Salve and Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, concluded their submissions.
The plea by Thapar, economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, sociology professor Satish Deshpande and human rights lawyer Maja Daruwala, has sought an independent probe into the arrests and the immediate release of the activists.
The Maharashtra police had arrested them on August 28 in connection with an FIR lodged following a conclave -- ‘Elgaar Parishad’ -- held on December 31 last year that had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village in the state.
HERE ARE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE VERDICT:
11:50 am: Arrests were not because of dissent of activists, there is prima facie material to show their link with banned CPI (Maoist): CJI
11:41 am: Supreme Court says the activists arrested in Bhima Koregaon case can move trial court for relief
11:39 am: Supreme Court extends house arrest for four weeks of five activists Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha in Bhima-Koregaon case. SC refuses to constitute SIT and asks Pune police to go ahead with the probe.
11:35 am: Supreme Court refuses to interfere in the arrest of five activists Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha in Bhima-Koregaon case.
11:30 pm: Accused can't choose which probe agency should examine case: Justice AM Khanwilkar reading out the verdict on the arrest of activists Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha in Bhima-Koregaon case.
The apex court had on September 19 said it would look into the case with a “hawk’s eye” as “liberty cannot be sacrificed at the altar of conjectures”.
It had told the Maharashtra government that there should be a clear-cut distinction between opposition and dissent on one hand and attempts to create disturbance, law and order problems or overthrow the government on the other.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, Ashwini Kumar and advocate Prashant Bhushan had also alleged that the entire case was cooked up and adequate safeguards should be provided to protect the liberty of the five activists.
The apex court had also said that it may order an SIT probe if it found that the evidence has been “cooked up
