Maharashtra government justifies arrest of 5 activists
Maharashtra government on Wednesday asserted in the Supreme Court that the five human rights activists were arrested not for their dissent'
New Delhi: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday asserted in the Supreme Court that the five human rights activists were arrested not for their ‘dissent’ but for their active role in the conspiracy to create violence in the Bhima-Koregaon incident.
The state said this in its response to the petition filed by Dr Romila Thapar and others challenging the arrest of Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Varavara Rao.
On August 29, while entertaining the petition from Dr Thapar, the apex court had observed that dissent is the safety valve of democracy and it could not be curbed by such arrests.
The court ordered their house arrest till September 6 and sought Maharashtra’s reply to the writ petition filed challenging the arrest of the five activists from Delhi, Faridabad, Mumbai, Thane and Hyderabad.
The state said, “This court is dealing with persons against whom cogent evidence has so far come n record showing that they are active members of a banned terrorist organisation namely, the Communist Party of India (Maoist).”