File Picture
The Supreme Court during a hearing has extended the house arrest of the five activists, who were allegedly involved in Bhima Koregaon violence, till September 12.
The five activists- Sudha Bhardwaj, P. Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, and Vernon Gonsalves, were detained on August 28 by Maharashtra police, from various locations. The arrests had caused widespread outrage.
The Apex Court, in an earlier order on August 29, had directed the Pune police to keep the activists under house arrest till September 5. The matter was subsequently heard on September 6 .
During the last hearing, the Maharashtra Government, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, stated that they “were members of banned terrorist organistaion Communist Party of India (Maoist).”
The action by Maharashtra Police was taken in connection with the violence that erupted in Pune during an event which marked 200 years of the Bhima Koregaon battle, in January this year. The clashes killed one person and left several injured, including 10 policemen.
