The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that all the five human rights activists, who were arrested by Pune police on Tuesday over Bhima Koregaon violence will be kept under house arrest till next hearing in the case. The court will hear the matter on September 6.
Hearing the petition of Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and others. The apex court expressed its anguish over the manner in which Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira were arrested, saying the “Dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed, then the pressure cooker may burst”.
The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Maharashtra Government and other parties and sought their replies by September 6.
A political debate broke out between the opposition parties after the arrests of five activists on Tuesday.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi took to his twitter account and blamed the government for attacking those activists who are not affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. “There is only place for one NGO in India and it’s called the RSS. Shut down all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the new India”, tweeted Rahul Gandhi.
However, the BJP in reply to the Congress President claimed that the arrested activists had links with Maoists.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted, “As Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had declared that Maoists are No.1 threat to India’s internal security. Now the Congress president openly supports the front organisations & sympathisers of the Maoists. Keep national security above politics.”
