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Supreme Court extends house arrests of activists, will examine evidence against them

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Supreme Court extends house arrests of activists, will examine evidence against them

The Supreme Court, on Monday, September 17, extended till September 19 the interim house arrest of five civil rights activists arrested by the Maharashtra police on August 28 in nationwide raids in connection with Bhima Koregaon communal clashes.

The activists – Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Varavara Rao – have been under house arrest since August 29.

On the next date, September 19, the prosecution – the Maharashtra police and the Centre – are likely to present their case diary against the accused and “additional evidence” of the connections between the activists and Maoist organizations.

The court’s interim order placing the activists under house arrest has come on a petition filed by five eminent citizens – Romila Thapar, Maja Daruwala, Devaki Jain, Prabhat Pattnaik and Satish Deshpande – who had challenged the arrests. Families of some of the arrested activists had later filed affidavits in the case.

The top court bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, which is hearing the petition, made it clear at the outset that the interim house arrest orders will continue till Wednesday.

Chief Justice Misra, however, pointed it out to the counsel for the petitioners and the prosecution that the bench was, at the moment, was entertaining the petition “on the foundations of liberty” and would assess the “issues like independent enquiry… at a later stage.”

Senior advocate Singhvi has demanded that the apex court must order a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the arrest of the activists and whether there is any truth in the allegations of their involvement in the January 1 Bhima Koregaon communal clashes or those of them being involved with Maoists “in a conspiracy against the State or to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

A SC bench observed that the court “must go through the evidence” to arrive at a conclusion whether there is actually substance in the criminal cases against the activists or that the case is fabricated.

The court further remarked that it may even order a SIT probe to look into the manner and the circumstances leading to registration of FIRs and subsequent arrests of the activists.

“We may quash the case if there is no material. We will have to examine the materials first. Let them (Maharashtra police) submit a report before us. We will safeguard the liberty but we will also have to see what is the material against them,” the judges said.

On Monday, the counsel for the prosecution once again questioned the locus standi of the petitioners in the case, with Additional Solicitor Generals (ASG) Tushar Mehta and Maninder Singh arguing that the Supreme Court should not have entertained the petition to begin with and that pleas by the arrested activists were already sub judice at the lower and high court level.

While senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan was arguing on behalf of the petitioners, Mehta, along with ASG Maninder Singh maintained that “strangers (referring to the petitioners) have no locus in criminal matters.”

Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the petitioners, however, strongly rebutted the submissions by the prosecution. Singhvi and Mehta demanded that the cases filed by the activists in the lower and high courts must be entertained while the extant petition in the Supreme Court should be set aside. However, the suggestion attracted a strong rebuke from Dhavan who snapped at Mehta while pointedly telling the bench: “Let us have a hearing without interruptions. Mehta should be doing cricket commentary… don’t try to convert everything into a stupid drama.”

Mehta retorted saying he did not want to “stoop to his (Dhavan’s) level” and continued to submit that “many incriminating documents against the arrested social activists have been recovered during the investigation”. He claimed that the activists have “not only been arrested for their involvement in the Bhima Koregaon event but also for conspiring to disrupt peace in the country.”

The five activists – Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj – were arrested on August 28 in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. The following day, the Supreme Court ordered that they be placed under house arrest till September 6. “Dissent is the safety valve of democracy, if you don’t allow safety valve, pressure cooker will burst,” the court had said.

On September 6, the court extended their house arrest till September 12 and adjourned the matter. The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, however, had pulled up the police for briefing the media even when the case was still in court.

During the September 12 hearing, the court adjourned the matter to Monday, September 17 and extended the house arrest of the activists. Both sides had asked for more time to file additional documents. On Monday, the house arrest was extended till Wednesday, when the prosecution has provide evidence for the case under which the arrests were made.

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Manipur: Congress hits back at BJP chief Nadda’s letter to Kharge

Ramesh emphasised that Nadda’s letter is replete with inaccuracies and reiterated that the people of Manipur long for normalcy, peace, and harmony.

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The Congress on Friday lashed out at BJP president JP Nadda’s accusations that the Opposition party was promoting a politically motivated narrative concerning the situation in Manipur.

The grand old party described Nadda’s letter to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge as a 4D exercise, which means denial, distortion, distraction, and defamation.

Nadda, responding to Kharge’s call for President Droupadi Murmu’s intervention and his claims of the Centre’s total failure in managing the crisis, claimed that the consequences of Congress’s “abject failure” in handling local issues in Manipur during its governance are still being felt today.

Responding to Nadda, Congress General Secretary for Communications Jairam Ramesh stated, “Congress President Kharge ji wrote to the President of India on Manipur. Apparently, to counter that letter, the BJP President has now written to the Congress President.”

Ramesh emphasised that Nadda’s letter is replete with inaccuracies and reiterated that the people of Manipur long for normalcy, peace, and harmony.

He noted that they are posed with four critical questions: When will the Prime Minister visit the state? How much longer will the Chief Minister remain in office despite lacking majority support? When will a full-time Governor be appointed? And when will the Union Home Minister be held accountable for his failures in Manipur?

Nadda expressed astonishment at the Congress’s ongoing efforts to sensationalize the situation in Manipur, pointing out that Kharge appeared to overlook the fact that his party’s past government had legitimized the illegal migration of foreign militants to India, during which former Home Minister P Chidambaram had signed relevant treaties.

On Tuesday, Kharge had written to President Murmu regarding the worsening conditions in Manipur, requesting her immediate intervention to ensure that the citizens of the state can live peacefully and with dignity.

In his two-page letter, Kharge accused both the Union and Manipur state governments of “completely failing” to restore peace and normalcy over the past 18 months, resulting in a loss of public confidence in their leadership.

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Rahul Gandhi is right, Gautam Adani should be arrested: RJD president Lalu Yadav

“Rahul Gandhi is right. Adani should be arrested,” said Prasad, who is an old ally of the Congress and a staunch opponent of the BJP, to which Adani is said to be close.

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RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday spoke in support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s demand for immediate arrest of Gautam Adani, after the Industrialist was charged in the US for alleged bribery and fraud.

Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said on Thursday that Gautam Adani should be arrested immediately, and his protector Madhabi Puri Buch should be investigated

The former Congress chief claimed that the recent developments vindicate his long-standing allegations against Gautam Adani. He took a sharp dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged that Modi is protecting Adani, and is also involved in corruption. 

Yadav, the former chief minister of Bihar, was responding to queries from journalists here about Gandhi’s statement on the previous day, in the backdrop of charges of bribery and fraud against the Adani group in the US.

“Rahul Gandhi is right. Adani should be arrested,” said Prasad, who is an old ally of the Congress and a staunch opponent of the BJP, to which Adani is said to be close.

The RJD supremo, who incidentally has been convicted in several fodder scam cases and is on bail, was also asked about prospects of the INDIA bloc, of which his party is a part, in Jharkhand, where the counting of votes for assembly polls is scheduled on Saturday.

Speaking to PTI, the ailing septuagenarian replied, “I would like to remain focused on my statement that Adani must be arrested. I am not worried much about a new government (in Jharkhand) where we are already in power.” Jharkhand witnessed a straight battle between the INDIA bloc and the BJP-led NDA, which included the JD(U) headed by Nitish Kumar, Prasad’s arch-rival and the current Chief Minister of Bihar.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Gandhi further said that Chief Ministers have been jailed for scams of Rs 10-15 crore, but Adani, who has committed a scam of Rs 2000 crore is walking free.

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Cash for votes row: BJP leader Vinod Tawde sends legal notice to Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, asks them to apologise or face defamation

The BJP leader said the allegations against him were false, baseless and made with malafide intentions.

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Cash for votes row: BJP leader Vinod Tawde sends legal notice to Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, asks them to apologise or face defamation

BJP leader Vinod Tawde, accused of distributing cash to influence voters, has sent a legal notice to Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Supriya Shrinate and Rahul Gandhi over the controversy. The BJP leader has demanded their apologies or face a Rs 100-crore defamation case.

Vinod Tawde’s legal notice came after regional party Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) leader Hitendra Thakur on Tuesday accused him of distributing Rs 5 crore at a hotel in Virar in Palghar district, 60 km from Mumbai, to woo voters.

In the legal notice, the BJP leader said the allegations against him were false, baseless and made with malafide intentions. He claimed that he demanded an apology from the three Congress leaders for their remarks against him in the cash-for-votes row or he would be forced to initiate criminal proceedings against them.

Just a few hours before the Assembly Elections, a video went viral on Tuesday showing BVA workers storming into the hotel in Palghar during a meeting between Vinod Tawde and Rajan Naik, the BJP candidate from the Nalasopara seat. The BVA workers alleged that Tawde was caught red-handed with Rs 5 crore cash.

In the viral video, the BVA workers were seen taking out bundles of cash from a bag, while Tawde was sitting at a distance. The BVA workers also took pictures and videos of him on their phones. Amid these allegations, BVA leaders said that Rs 5 crore cash was distributed, an election official on Tuesday said Rs 9.93 lakh cash was recovered from the hotel rooms.

However, Vinod Tawde denied the allegation, saying he was only providing guidance to party workers on poll procedures and said he was not stupid enough to distribute money at his opponent’s hotel. Speaking to the media, he said that the Vivanta Hotel is owned by the Thakurs, and he is not stupid to go to their hotel and distribute money there.

The Police registered two FIRs against Tawde, BJP candidate Naik and others in connection with the controversy. Additionally, the Election Commission filed three FIRs against Tawde.

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