Supreme Court says no to independent probe into arrest of activists

The supreme court on Friday refused to order an independent probe into the arrest of five activists over their alleged maoist links on the ground that the accused cannot choose the investigative agency to probe them.

The top court said that they will continue to be under house arrest for four weeks and move the appropriate courts for relief. They can move the lower courts for bail.

The five - varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha -- were picked up in August by police in connection with a probe into the recent caste violence in Bhima Koregaon.


Police claim that they have incriminating material to show that they were part of a plot hatched by the banned cpi (maoist) to eliminate sovereign leaders. They have been charged under the unlawful activities act with little possibility of probe.

A three judge bench led by outgoing cji dipak misra said in a 2:1 verdict that there was no proof to show that the criminal process set in motion against them was mala fide. Justice a.m. khanwilkar agreed with cji.

This is not the stage at which we examine the sufficiency and efficiency of material against them, it said.

Justice d.y.chandrachud dissented. He said that the manner in which maharashtra police had conducted the probe and conducted a media trial warranted a special investigation team.

Short of incitement to violence and subversion of elected government, dissent must be allowed in a democracy, he said.