Supreme Court extends House Arrest of five Right Activists

ONI Bureau:  The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the house arrest of five right activists arrested for their alleged links with the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Bhima Koregaon violence case.

Extending its interim order putting them under house arrest, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud directed the hearing of the matter on September 17.

The court was informed that the wife of Surinder Gadling — one of the activists arrested earlier — had filed an intervention application on their behalf challenging their arrests.

The court was told that the intervention application may be treated as writ petition.

The Supreme Court is hearing a plea by historian Romila Thapar and activist Maja Daurwala challenging the arrests of the activists.

Maharashtra Police arrested Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira from different cities.