The apex court on Thursday (Sep 5) continued the interim house arrest of five activists Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferriera, Sudha Bhardwaj, P Varavara Rao and Vernon Gonsalves till Sep 12.

During the course of proceedings, the counsel for Maharashtra govt informed the bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud that they had ample proof against all the arrested activists. The counsel said that if the court will give relief to these activists then it will be setting a bad precedent.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Romila Thapar, Devaki Jain, Prabhat Pattnaik, Maja Daruwala and Satish Deshpande seeking immediate release of the activists.

The counsel further informed the bench that the dissent was not the ground on which activists were arrested.

ASG Tushar Mehta said that the activists were booked for criminal offences. “The court can stay their arrests and they can take necessary remedy of bail, etc,” Mehta said.

The bench directed Senior counsel Indira Jaising appearing for the petitioners to submit remand copies pertaining to the activists before it.

The matter will be heard again on Sep 12.

—India Legal Bureau