Telugu poet Varavara Rao, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Farreira, trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha were arrested following the raids on August 26.
The Supreme Court will tomorrow resume hearing on the arrest of five activists who were held by Pune police last month for their alleged role in the Bhima-Koregaon violence.
Last Thursday, the apex court had extended the house arrest of prominent Left-wing activists who were arrested after Pune police conducted raids across several states as part of a probe into anti-Dalit violence at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after the Elgar Parishad conclave on December 31 last year.
Telugu poet Varavara Rao, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Farreira, trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha were arrested following the raids on August 26.
The top court had stayed their custody and had instead ordered the police to keep them under house arrest. On Septemeber 6, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, also comprising justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, extended their house arrest and fixed September 12 as the next date of hearing.
The Supreme Court had also slammed the Maharashtra police for addressing a press conference about evidence gathered against the five arrested alleged urban Naxals even as the matter was sub judice, demanding more "responsibility".
"He (police officer) has no business to talk to the press when we are seized of the matter. You ruin people's reputation and cast insinuation on the Court. Tell him we have taken serious exception to this conduct," the bench said.
The Maharashtra police had held a press conference, sharing with the media, details of letters which they seized from the houses of five activists.
Parambir Singh, the Additional Directorate General of Maharashtra Police, had claimed that a letter was recovered from Rona Wilson, which was written to one Comrade Prakash, proposing a "Rajiv Gandhi-like incident" to end the "Modi Raj".
On September 5, the Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court that 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 came in the backdrop of the court's remark stating that "dissent is the safety valve of democracy".
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "File Photo:")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}