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People from various organisations agitate against police raids on the premises of activists and their subsequent arrest, in New Delhi on Wednesday.(PTI8_29_2018_000109B)[/caption]
New Delhi, Aug. 29 (PTI): The Supreme Court today ordered that the five human rights activists, arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, be kept under house arrest till September 6, saying dissent was the “safety valve” of democracy.
The five activists will now not be sent to jail till September 6 but will remain in house arrest under police watch.
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 top court also issued notice to the Maharashtra state government and the state police on the plea filed by five intellectuals, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devika Jain, against the arrest of the rights activists yesterday in connection with the case.
The counsel, appearing for Maharashtra, raised the issue of maintainability of the plea, saying a “stranger” cannot seek relief for the activists who have already approached the high courts.
Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, while activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira were nabbed from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad in Haryana and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.
The Maharashtra Police had arrested them in connection with an FIR lodged there following an event -- ‘Elgaar Parishad’ (conclave) -- held on December 31 last year that had triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.
The bench posted the matter for hearing on September 6.
Arrest of prominent activists shows govt. nervous, says Patnaik
Two Left-wing intellectuals said today the arrest of five prominent civil rights activists in police raids across several states showed that the BJP-led central government was nervous about losing support among people.
Criticising the government for arresting Telugu poet P Varavara Rao, civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj for their suspected Maoist links, the Left intellectuals told reporters that the government was trying to create an “atmosphere of emergency”.
Two more people were arrested yesterday. They are activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
“It is the sign of nervousness of the government because of the fact that they are loosing support among farmers, workers and among people at large. Because of which, it is very important to conjure up an enemy and to create an atmosphere of emergency of terror, or a threat to society,” economist Prabhat Patnaik said,
“One way of doing this is to blow up the idea of urban Maoists. And when especially they say that the prime minister’s life is been attacked...it creates a kind of sympathy wave. But I am very sure that it would backfire on them,” Patnaik said.
K Sachidanandan, former secretary of Sahitya Kala Acedemy, attended the media meet, organised to urge people to join a workers and farmers rally on September 5 in Delhi.
The two are part of the coordination committee for the rally.
They urged every distressed section of society to unite against the “oppressive” government and added that the rally would be the first such effort to bring people together.
“The alliance of all these classes, who are the joint victims of neo-liberalism, is the primary instrument to overcome the neo-liberal order. It is also, therefore, the primary instrument to overcome the conjuncture which sustains the forces of communal-authoritarianism, that currently rule the country,” Sachidanandan said.
The September 5 rally is organised jointly by Centre of Indian Trade Unions, All India Kisan Sabha and All-India Agricultural Workers’ Union.
Organisers claimed that more than three lakh people will be mobilised for the rally.
RJD president Lalu Prasad today alleged Narendra Modi government is taking the country towards “a totalitarian regime” and false security alarms were being raised to prepare the ground for imposing Emergency.
Prasad also likened the situation in Bihar under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to that of ancient Rome when emperor Nero was playing the flute while his kingdom was burning.
“A number of persons have been arrested for alleged Maoist links. Reports have also surfaced alleging that there are threats to the life of the prime minister. All this seems to be a ploy for clamping the Emergency in the country,” Prasad told reporters at the airport here.
“The country is inching towards a totalitarian regime,” said Prasad, while leaving for Ranchi to surrender before a court tomorrow upon expiry of his provisional bail.
The septuagenarian leader, who was till last week convalescing at a Mumbai hospital, looked weary but managed to walk today. In the recent past, he was seen mostly on a wheelchair.
Asked about the law and order situation in Bihar, Prasad said, “There is no law nor any order left in the state. The prevailing situation reminds one of the era when Nero played the flute while his kingdom was on fire.”
Journalists also asked the RJD supremo whether a piece of black cloth tied on the main gate of his wife’s bungalow was to ward off evil eye, but he declined to comment.
Social media users enlisted themselves as “urban naxals” in a show of solidarity with the arrested Left-wing activists as ‘MeTooUrbanNaxal’ hashtag trended on microblogging site, Twitter.
It all started when filmmaker and author Vivek Agnihotri asked some “bright young minds” to put together a list of those defending ‘Urban Naxals’.
“I want some bright young people to make a list of all those who are defending #UrbanNaxals. Let’s see where it leads. If you want to volunteer with commitment, please DM me,” he tweeted last night.
Social media users - journalists, activists, professionals, students - people from all walks of life - lashed out at the filmmaker.
They countered that the term ‘Urban Naxal’ was a mere creation of some sections to malign those who have an anti-establishment stance. Others accused Agnihotri of openly inciting hate.
As a mark of protest, thousands enlisted themselves as ‘urban naxals’, tweeting and retweeting the hashtag since this morning.
Prateek Sinha, co-founder of Alt News, asked the Twitterati to tag the filmmaker with the hashtag #MeTooUrbanNaxal to help the latter build his list.
“You know how the term ‘anti-national’ doesn’t stick anymore. It was because all of us of a certain ideological bent started jokingly referring to ourselves as anti-nationals in many of our conversations and reduced it into a joke. It was no longer derogatory, it was a joke. So they needed a new phrase and which is what is ‘Urban Naxals’.
Actress Swara Bhaskar gave a big thumbs up to the move and said that the trending of the hashtag was “a tight slap. Kudos to #TwitterWarriors”.
If asking the questions, or standing up for humanity and freedom of speech makes me an urban Naxal... then I’m proud to be one #MeTooUrbanNaxal,” tweeted Archana Bhardwaj.
Journalist Nikhil Wagle tweeted, “If @Sudhabharadwaj is a naxal, I am a naxal too. Arrest me. #MetooUrbanNaxal”.
Another user, Vidyut, even changed his user name to Urban Naxal Vidyut.The hashtag has so far garnered more than 55,000 tweets.
The Maharashtra Police yesterday arrested Left-wing activists Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha, and conducted raids in the houses of several others as part of a probe into the ‘Elgar Parishad’ event held in Pune on December 31 last year.
The event had allegedly triggered violence between Dalits and upper caste groups at Koregaon Bhima village in the district.