House arrest of 5 activist extended to four weeks in Bhima Koregaon case
- The Supreme Court, in a majority opinion on Friday, held that the crackdown and arrests of five activists from some parts of the country in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case on August 28 was not an attempt to silence dissent.
- Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar shared the majority view on a three-judge Bench that material evidence does not show that the “different political ideology” of the activists triggered the police action against them.
- The majority opinion dismissed the writ petition filed by historian Romila Thapar and four others seeking a Supreme Court–monitored special investigation team (SIT) probe into the allegations raised against the five arrested activists — poet Vara Vara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Gautam Navlakha.
- The majority judgment extended the house arrests of the five to another four weeks and asked them to pursue relief in the lower courts. Any observations made by the apex court will not prejudice their case.
