(Photo: People from various organisations stage a protest against police raids at the premises of activists an... Read More

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that the five human rights activists, arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, be kept under house arrest saying dissent is the "safety valve" of democracy. The top court, however, refused to stay the arrest of the five activists.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra questioned the Maharashtra police for arresting these persons after around nine months of the Bhima-Koregaon incident.

"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy and if you don't allow these safety valves, it will burst," the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

The court directed that the five human rights activists be kept under house arrest till the next hearing which is on September 6. The activists were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the caste riots in Bhima-Koregaon.

The apex court said that if the high court had permitted house arrest for two persons, then the same can be applied to all five.

The court sought a response from the Maharashtra government by next Wednesday.

During the hearing, defence lawyers, AM Singhvi, Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave and Indira Jaising, said that these are random arrests and no one can be safe in India.

Additional solicitors general Tushar Mehta and Maninder Singh argued this is a strange case where strangers have moved bail plea for accused.

The five left-wing activists-- Sudha Bharadwaj , Gautam Navlakha , Arun Ferreira , Vernon Gonsalves and P Varavara Rao -- were arrested yesterday by Maharashtra police in pan-India raids conducted in connection with the caste riots in Bhima-Koregaon on January 1.

Telugu poet Rao and activists Gonsalves and Ferreira were taken to Pune late last night and are likely to be produced in a court later in the day, a senior police official in Pune said.

The other two arrested activists were — a trade unionist and lawyer Bharadwaj in Faridabad and civil liberties activist Navlakha in Delhi.

Navlakha and Bharadwaj were confined to their homes, under the guard of police officers, and allowed to meet only their lawyers.

Following their arrests, five eminent people, Romila Thapar, Devki Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and Maya Daruwala, had filed a petition in the SC questioning the arrest of the activists and also sought an independent probe into the arrests.

The petitioners said their arrest and them being charged with the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) is an attempt to muzzle voices of dissent.

Lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the petition before the Chief Justice of India who agreed to hear the petition later today.

The petition was mentioned before a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which agreed to give an urgent hearing today itself at 3.45 pm.

The petition, which was mentioned by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, seeks the release of all five and an independent probe into the arrests.

