Bhima Koregaon Probe LIVE: No Jail for 5 Activists as Top Court Orders House Arrest Till September 6

Bhima Koregaon Probe LIVE Updates: A three-judge Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra provided interim relief to the five activists arrested by Pune police on Tuesday by ordering they will be kept under house arrest till the next date of hearing on September 6. The court also issued notices to the Centre and Mahrashtra government, seeking their replies, while observing that those arrested are prominent rights activists, professors and lawyers. Justice Chandrachud, who was part of the bench, said that dissent is the safety valve of democracy

Hearing over the arrests were also held in the Delhi High Court and a sessions court in Pune. The Delhi HC, which had on Tuesday stayed the transit remand of activist Gautam Navlakha, has said that it would examine the legality of the Maharashtra police action. The court also slammed police for failing to produce the translated version of the FIR and said it was yet to hear the grounds of arrest. Varavara Rao, Arun Fereira and Vernon Gonsalves, on the other hand, were produced by Pune police at the sessions court there.

The union government has come out in full support of the Pune police action against V V Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj and the other activists. A top official of Ministry of Home Affairs said that there is evidence to show that the arrested accused were “abetting and giving logistical support to naxals.” “Writing and propagating an ideology is different but action has to be taken if your action is beyond writing. If you provide financial and logistical support, you are aiding and supporting the violence,” the official said.

The National Commission of Human Rights, on the other hand, has observed that the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police, which may amount to violation of their human rights, according to reports. The NHRC has now issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Maharashtra calling for a factual report in the matter within four weeks.Lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj, who is under house arrest, will be produced in High Court tomorrow.

Writer and poet Varavara Rao, social activist Vernon Gonsalves and civil rights activist Arun Ferreira are likely to be produced in a Pune court at 2pm, while petitions against their arrest, along with that of human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and former PUDR secretary Gautam Navlakha are likely to be filed in the Supreme Court. The arrest of the five Left-leaning activists yesterday in nation-wide raids over the Bhima Koregaon violence of January has triggered massive outrage among activists, thinkers and opposition parties.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Bhima-Koregaon village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.

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