Supreme Court extends house arrest of five accused activists by four weeks; Refuse SIT probe

While giving a verdict on the arrest of five activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon Violence, Supreme Court of India on Friday ruled that the house arrest of the activists will extend for another four weeks. 

The top court also dismissed the plea demanding to appoint a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the arrest in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon Violence case. 

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The majority decision to extend the house arrest of five accused, for their links with the banned group Communist Party of India (Maoist) and inciting violence in Bhima-Koregaon case, was taken by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and Justice AM Khanwilkar. However, Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud did not agree to the majority decision. 

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Refusing to order a SIT probe into the matter as suggested by Justice Chandrachud, the majority judgement directed Pune Police to continue with their investigation and keep the activist under house arrest till further orders. 

The five arrested accused including human right activists and lawyers – Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha – have been under house arrest since August 29. 

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After the arrest, a plea was filed by Historian Romila Thapar, Devaki Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande, and Maja Daruwala against the arrest. A bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra reserved the judgment on September 20 of this matter.