Bombay High Court, on 3 September, slammed the Maharashtra police’s press conference on the recent arrests of activists and authors, asking why a case that was sub-judice merited a press briefing.
The High Court adjourned a petition demanding an inquiry by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the case of the activists who have been arrested in relation to the violence in Bhima Koregaon earlier this year.
The matter has been adjourned till 7 September because copies of the petition were not served to all concerned persons, reported ANI.
Justifying the arrests of the five human rights activists, Maharashtra's Additional Director General of Police Parambir Singh on Friday, 31 August, in a special media briefing, claimed police have clear evidence of the activists’ links with Maoist organisations and a larger conspiracy to overthrow the central government.
In the press conference, ADG Singh had exhibited certain emails, letters and other communication that allegedly changed hands among the activists, whose arrests from different parts of India have triggered condemnation from several quarters.
On August 28, Pune Police had arrested lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Fereira, and Telugu poet P Varavara Rao from different parts of India, as part of investigations into the 1 January Bhima Koregaon caste violence.
(With IANS inputs)
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