Bhima-Koregaon Violence: SC reserves order on activists' arrest case till September 24

The Supreme Court which extended the house arrest of five rights activists in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima violence, Thursday reserved its order on the petitions filed by Romila Thapar and four others challenging the arrest of five right activists from several cities across India. The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also asked parties to file their written notes by Monday.

"Supreme Court reserves its order on the petitions filed by Romila Thapar and others challenging the arrest of activists. The court has also asked parties to file their written notes by Monday," the news agency ANI reported.

#BhimaKoregaon case: Supreme Court reserves its order on the petitions filed by Romila Thapar and others challenging the arrest of activists. The court has also asked parties to file their written notes by Monday.

— ANI (@ANI) September 20, 2018

On Wednesday, the apex court extended the house arrest for a day, saying liberty cannot be "sacrificed at the altar of conjectures". Those arrested activists include Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha.

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During its last hearing, the Supreme Court told the Maharashtra government that there should be a clear-cut distinction between opposition and dissent on one hand and attempts to create disturbance, law and order problems or overthrow the government on the other.

"Our institutions must be robust enough to accommodate any dissent or opposition to the system or even to this court. We cannot sacrifice liberty at the altar of conjectures," the SC directed.

The bench also comprising  Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, may order a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) if it found that the evidence has been "cooked up" in the Koregaon-Bhima case.

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Bhima Koregaon violence refers to be an alleged Maoist attack early this year that rocked Maharashtra's Bhima Koregaon on January 1 during the 200th-anniversary celebration of a British-era war. It is also is believed to be the assassination attempt of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the lines of former PM Rajiv Gandhi.