Historian Romila Thapar and four activists today moved the Supreme Court against the arrest of five rights activists by the Maharashtra Police for suspected Maoist links.


The petition against the arrest of the activists was mentioned before a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which agreed to give an urgent hearing today itself at 3:45 pm.


In the petition, which was mentioned by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the historian and other right activists have sought release of all activists who have been arrested during raids in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon case. They have also sought an independent probe into the arrests. The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.


In related news, the Delhi High Court today has said it will hear at 2:15 pm the plea of rights activists Gautam Navlakha, arrested for alleged unlawful activities, after the Maharashtra Police submitted that translated documents of the case were not ready.


The court had yesterday directed that Navlakha should not be taken away from Delhi till it hears the matter as specific allegations against him were unclear as the documents were in Marathi.


A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel was informed by Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, appearing for Maharashtra Police, that the documents to be translated from Marathhi to English will be provided to Navlakha's counsel positively by 12 pm. Advocate Nithya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, said the matter could be heard tomorrow. The court, however, said it will hear the matter at 2:15 pm.
-- PTI


IMAGE: Arun Ferreira, a human rights activist and lawyer, was arrested yesterday by the Pune police in connection with Bhima Koregaon violence case. Photograph: PTI Photo