New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused urgent listing of a petition filed by historian Romila Thapar seeking review of its September 28 order dismissing her PIL demanding immediate release of five activists arrested for their alleged Maoist links in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case and an SIT probe into the charges.

A Bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi declined the request made by Thapar’s counsel after he mentioned the issue of urgent listing. Agreeing with the contention of Maharashtra Police that the accused had arrested on the basis of “cogent material and evidence”, a three-judge bench headed by then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had by a 2:1 verdict said, “It is not a case of arrest because of mere dissenting views or difference in political ideology.”

“We are of considered opinion that it is not a case of arrest because of mere dissenting views expressed or difference in the political ideology of the named accused, but concerning their link with the members of the banned organisation and its activities,” the majority verdict of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A M Khanwilkar said.

The court ordered that the accused will remain in house arrest for four more weeks during which they were at liberty to avail of legal remedies before appropriate judicial forums.

However, Justice DY Chandrachud had delivered a dissenting verdict in which he said, “Liberty can’t be sacrificed at the altar of conjectures.” He also pulled up the Pune Police for holding press conference and conducting media trial by leaking material to journalists.

The three-judge bench had refused to interfere with the arrest of the five rights activists and said further proceedings against them would be decided on the merits of the case without being influenced by the observations of the apex court.

In a pan-India crackdown on August 28, poet Varavara Rao was arrested in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha in Delhi for suspected Maoist links.

The raids were part of a probe into a conclave-Elgar Parishad-held in Koregaon-Bhima near Pune on December 31, 2017 which had allegedly triggered violence the next day.