Koregaon-Bhima case: SC irked over Maha police officer, extends house arrest of activists

The Supreme Court on Thursday took strong exception to the statement of a senior police officer on the arrest of five rights activists in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence case, saying he had cast "aspersions" on the top court.

The court also extended its earlier order saying the rights activists -- Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha-- would remain under house arrest till September 12, when it will take up the plea filed by historian Romila Thapar and four others in the case.

A visibly angry Justice D Y Chandrachud, who along with Justice A M Khanwilkar was part of a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, referred to the statements made to the media by an Assistant Commissioner of Police of Pune and said he was casting aspersions on the apex court by saying that it should not have entertained the plea.

"I watched the press briefing by the Assistant Commissioner, Pune which insinuated that the Supreme Court should not have intervened at this stage. He has no business saying that and casting aspersions on the Supreme Court Judges," Justice Chandrachud said.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing Maharashtra government, immediately apologised for the action of the police officer.

"Tell him we have taken it very seriously ... You (law officer) must ask your police officials to be more responsible. The matter is before us and we don't want to hear from police officials that the Supreme Court is wrong," the judge said.

Considering the submissions of the law officer that Thapar and others have no locus to file the plea, the bench asked the petitioners to satisfy it on whether a third party could intervene in a criminal case.

"In a criminal investigation, can a third party enter," the bench asked.

Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Thapar and others, said they were "not third parties" and the issue was larger.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan said the arrested activists have consented that they can be represented by the petitioners and moreover, they can also be allowed to become parties to the litigation here.

At the outset, Mehta referred to the reply of the Maharashtra police and several judgements and said the petition filed by Thapar, economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, sociology professor Satish Deshpande and human rights lawyer Maja Daruwala, was not maintainable as they are "strangers" to the issue in question.

He said the accused have been represented by lawyers at various courts and the present petitioners cannot seek remedy and issuance of writ on their behalf as such procedures are "unknown to the criminal law".

The law officer said there was enough evidence including the materials taken from the activists' computers and other sources which belied the perception of the petitioners about the arrested accused.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Tushar Damgude who had filed the FIR in the Koregaon-Bhima violence, opposed the plea of Thapar and said the plea against the arrest could have been raised in the magistrate's court by the affected parties.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising raised the issue of the arrest of an activist in the matter six months ago.

The bench fixed the matter for further hearing on September 12.

Earlier, the Maharashtra government had filed its response to the plea claiming the five rights activists were arrested due to the cogent evidence linking them with the banned CPI (Maoist) and not because of their dissenting views.

The state's response had come in the backdrop of the apex court, while ordering the house arrest of the five activists on August 29, categorically stating that "dissent is the safety valve of democracy".

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested on August 28 from Hyderabad, while activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira were nabbed from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj from Faridabad in Haryana and civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha was arrested from New Delhi.

The Maharashtra police had arrested the five activists in connection with an FIR lodged following a conclave -- 'Elgaar Parishad' -- held on December 31 last year that had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

The court had questioned the state police's move to arrest these activists nine months after the incident and said all of them were reputed citizens and "stifling the dissent" was not good.

The plea by Thapar and others has sought an independent probe into the arrests and their immediate release.