P Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira (in pic) were produced before a local court in Pune on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court, hearing the petition filed by Historian Romila Thapar and others against the arrests of five activists in relation to Bhima Koregaon violence, directed Pune police to keep them under house arrest till the its next hearing on September 6. The activists were picked up Tuesday by the Maharashtra Police from different locations for their alleged Maoists links.
Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested, the police have said, for their involvement in organising Elgaar Parishad earlier this year in Pune. Elgaar Parishad is an event to mark the 200th year of the Battle of Koregaon, which Dalit groups observe as a victory over the forces of the upper caste Peshwas. The raids were carried out in Delhi, Faridabad, Goa, Mumbai, Ranchi and Hyderabad.
Police had earlier arrested Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Antachi Chalwal, Surendra Gadling and Mahesh Raut for allegedly sourcing funds from banned Maoist groups to help in organising Elgaar Parishad. It also accused them of planning to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a “Rajiv Gandhi-like manner”.
Professor Anand Teltumbde, whose Goa house was raided by Pune police, said, "If it happened with us, It could happen to anyone. It is terrorising that state is targeting any one they want."
Susan Abraham Gonsalves, wife of arrested activist Vernon Gonsalves, said at the conference in Mumbai, "Where is the connection we have with Bhima Koregaon? In Pune court today, it was alleged pen drives were used by those arrested to promote urban naxalism. That is how urban naxal is being defined."
Arguing its case, the defence said the police failed to connect the dots in the case.
Such individuals cannot escape responsibility for aiding and abetting the violent acts committed by CPI(Maoist)’s underground cadres: Pune police report to Centre
The report further states, "The CPI(Maoist), towards achievement of their ultimate objective of seizure of political power through protracted peoples war, attaches immense importance to the 'Urban Movement' which works towards creation of a United Front in support of their movement. The urban movement is the main source for providing leadership & resources to CPI(Maoist). The responsibility for provision of supplies, technologies, expertise, information and other logistic support is also shouldered by overground activists in urban centres."
Pune police in its report to the Centre said, "The UPA Government had, in December 2012, identified 128 organizations with linkages to the CPI(Maoists) and written to all the States asking them to take action against people involved with these organizations. Seven of those — Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Mahesh Raut — arrested belong to organizations appearing in this list."
All five activists - Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and P Varavara Rao - picked up in connection with Bhima Koregaon violence to remain in house arrest in their own homes till next date of hearing, orders Supreme Court.
While hearing the petition of Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande and others against the arrest of activists Sudha Bhardwaj and activist Gautam Navlakha, the Supereme Court observed, "dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed then the pressure cooker may burst."
Hearing the petition on Gautam Navlakha's arrest case, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Maharashtra Government and other parties, seeking their replies by September 6.
"The human right activists arrested by Pune police have no connection with Elgaar Parishad. The Parishad has never funded Naxals. Bhima koregaon was state sponsored," retired justice Kolse Pati said.
The Delhi High Court refusing to budge from its position, said even if all other arrests in the matter are valid, it would not lend validity to arrest of Gautam Navlakha.
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The Delhi High Court said that it needs to examine the legal justification for arrest of Gautam Navlakha and the procedural aspect followed in the matter. It further said that there is also a need to examine the legality of the trial court granting transit remand of Gautam Navlakha.
Expressing concern over the time spent by arrested person in custody, the high court said that the Maharashtra Police is unable to explain what its case against Gautam Navlakha. The court also objected to Navlakha being termed as 'accused' by the police.
The prosecution tells court that the three arrested, Varavara Rao, Arun Fereira, Vernon Gonsalves, have connections with banned maoist organisations.
The Delhi High Court questioned the state police's failure to translate the documents carrying grounds of arrests from Marathi and for not giving it to Gautam Navlakha. Saying that it is the question of a person's liberty, the court further asked the police by when can the latter give the translated documents.
The Maharashtra government today defended the arrest of five Left-wing activists in multi-state raids yesterday saying the action was based on "proof" about their "links with the Naxal movement". "It is due to their links with naxal movements that they have been arrested. If there was no evidence, we would not have taken the action. We have followed the procedures before conducting raids against these naxal activists," Deepak Kesarkar, MoS Home said.
Three of the five arrested activists - P Varavara Rao from Hyderabad, Vernon Gonzalves from Mumbai, Arun Ferreira from Thane- have been produced before a local court in Pune.
Gautam Navlakha's counsel tells HC they have received translated documents including FIR from Maharashtra Police
As Pune police conducted raids at the homes of prominent activists and writers across the country, The Indian Express' Sushant Kulkarni explains the scenario and its links to the Koregaon Bhima violence. Listen here
Arrested from Delhi
Current status: Under house arrest
* Civil rights activist and a member of the People’s Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR).
* Been with digital newsportal Newsclick, academic journal Economic and Political Weekly
* Extensive work on Kashmir has often riled governments
* Recent works focused on Chhattisgarh
* Associates said this is the first time a criminal proceeding has been initiated against him.
Arrested from Mumbai
Current status: To be produced in Pune court
* Has been moving in and out of jail since 2007
* Arrested for being responsible for the propaganda and communications wing of the banned CPI (Maoist)
* 10 cases including sedition and waging war against the country filed against him
* Spent four years in Nagpur Central Prison
* In 2011, police arrested him alleging that he was absconding, even though he was in prison in Nagpur.
* Got bail in 2012, acquitted of all cases in 2014
* Wrote about the alleged police torture and his life in prison in a book, Colours of the Cage
* In recent weeks, Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves wrote for a web portal about their experience of life in jail, detailing the lack of sunlight and fresh air.
Arrested from Mumbai
Current status: To be produced before Pune court
* Arrested first in 2007 for being part of the banned CPI (Maoist).
* Accused of planning terror acts and infiltrating workers’ unions to create undercover cadres for Maoist activities
* Was convicted under the Arms Act, Explosives Act in 2014 and sentenced to a three-year jail
* Under UAPA, court sentenced Gonsalves to five years in jail. (first case of alleged Naxalites being convicted in a UAPA case in Maharashtra).
* Worked for the rights of labourers in Vidharba
The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to Maharashtra government and DGP Maharashtra over the arrests of the five activists. The Maharashtra chief secretary and the director general of police have been asked to submit a 'factual report' in the matter within four weeks." On the basis of the media reports, the Commission has observed that it appears that the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police authorities, which may amount to violation of their human rights,” an official said
Arrested from Hyderabad
Current status: To be produced before Pune Court
* Varavara Rao is a well-known Marxist critic, revolutionary poet, literary critic, civil rights activist and Maoist sympathiser
* Helped organise peace talks and negotiating ceasefires in united Andhra Pradesh at the height of insurgency
* Founder of Virasam (Revolutionary Writers’ Association) - that propagates Naxalite ideology
* Has a case filed against him for allegedly instigating a revolution which became known as the Secunderabad Conspiracy.
* His name has allegedly come up in a Maoist letter giving him the responsibility to raise funds for a plot to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi; calls the letter 'fabricated'
Arrested from Faridabad
Current status: Under House Arrest
* Sudha Bharadwaj, a trade unionist, human rights activist and lawyer who surrendered her US citizenship at the age of 18.
* Teaches law at the National Law University
* General secretary of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
* Quit academics to join the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha
* Was also involved with the Bhilai Steel Plant workers’ union, fighting for better wages and safe working condition.
* Fiercely criticised government during the sterilisation deaths in Bilaspur in 2013
* Complained against Chhattisgarh police and Sukma district officials for “turning a blind eye” to the alleged murder of seven people and the burning of homes by special police officers of Salwa Judum in 2007.
* Takes up several cases on human rights abuse and labour law
While five were arrested on Tuesday, the houses of Stan Swamy in Ranchi and Anand Teltumbde in Goa were also raided.
Teltumbde, a writer, political activist and civil rights activist has written on issues on Left and Dalits in various national dailies, including, The Indian Express. In Goa he is a professor with the Goa Institute of Management. Teltumbde who was not present at his house when the police arrived claimed that his house was opened and searched.
Jesuit Priest Stan Swamy, whose house in Ranchi was searched by Pune police, was in July charged by the Jharkhand police with “waging war against the state”. The FIR was registered against the background of the patthalgadi movement, which had created flashpoints between the state and the so-called leaders of the tribals, seeking to prevent officials from entering villages on the ground that “gram sabha” was supreme in the Scheduled Tribes area.
Civil Rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj who was also picked up by the Maharashtra police on Tuesday has been kept under house arrest till August 30. The matter is likley to be taken up by Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday. The development came after several hours of high drama in Faridabad, following the earlier order of the CJM, which had come only moments after the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, where the matter was being heard simultaneously, adjourned hearing on a habeas corpus plea against the detention for two days.
"Tomorrow she will be produced before High Court, till then she is under our supervision. Media would be barred from talking to her. But she can meet her advocates," DCP,NIT Faridabad said, reported ANI. Read more
Three of the five arrested activists - P Varavara Rao from Hyderabad, Vernon Gonzalves from Mumbai, Arun Ferreira from Thane- will be produced before a local court in Pune today. “We will argue for police custody of the three to be produced in court today. We will present our primary findings about their Maoist links,” a police officer said. Read more
The Opposition political parties and leaders condemned the multi-city raids and arrests of activists. Asking the government to back up its action by substantial evidence, JDU leader Pawan Kumar said, "If evidence is not convincing then this kind of action goes directly against the supremacy of rule under constitutional democracy which allows right to free speech and dissent. If the government is unable to produce conclusive evidence, then I am afraid actions of this nature will sound very ominously reminiscent of what happened during the Emergency," reported news agency ANI.
“Ever since the Bhima Koregoan violence against Dalits, Maharashtra Police, along with central agencies, have been targeting Dalit rights activists and lawyers who have been taking up their cases. False charges have been levelled and the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act invoked. These constitute a brazen attack on democratic rights and civil liberties,” the CPI(M) said in a statement.
The Delhi High Court, meanwhile, will hear the plea of activist Gautam Navlakha, who claimed his arrest was illegal. Navlakha, who was picked from Delhi has been kept under house arrest till the court hears the case. The Maharashtra Police has also informed the court that the translated copies of documents and FIR against Navlakha will be given to his counsel by 12 noon today.
The bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel Tuesday questioned how Pune police managed to get a transit remand from a Delhi court without any local witness. It had also asked them the translations of the police documents. Shortly after his arrest, Navlakha was produced in a Saket court which allowed police to take him away and present him before a Pune court before August 30. The High Court wondered how a person arrested at 2.15 pm could be produced in court so quickly and a transit remand obtained. It also questioned how the FIR, lodged in Marathi, was read out to the lower court judge. Read more
The petitioners who challenged the arrests in Supreme Court include Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Satish Deshpande, Maya Darnall among others. They want a stay on the arrests of the activists and an independent probe into the matter
The arrests of five activists picked up in connection with its investigations into the alleged Maoist involvement in the organisation of Elgaar Parishad, will be heard in the Supreme Court. Three of them will also be produced in Pune court. Two arrested from Delhi and Faridabad are under house arrest currently. Follow this space to track the latest developments