Sudha Bharadwaj

Lawyers and kin of jailed activists allege harassment as inordinate delay in court proceedings seems to be motivated

Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj, P Varavara Rao, and Gautam Navlakha, were initially put under house arrest on directions of the Supreme Court.

Police alleged that some of the backers of the conclave had Maoist links.

The five activists ---Vara Vara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, and Gautam Navlakha--- have been under house arrest since August 29 for their alleged involvement in the violence which took place on January 1.

The court was hearing the plea filed against the arrest of the rights activists -- Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha -- in the case.

In its earlier hearing on the case, the SC had said: “Dissent is the safety valve of democracy... the pressure cooker will burst if you don’t allow the safety valves."

In a media briefing Friday, the police had released details of seized letters related to five activists arrested in June in connection with the Bhima Koregoan violence.

The notice was issued to the Chief Secretary and Maharashtra Director General of Police Datta Padsalgikar.

Pune police raided the homes of prominent human rights activists in several states and arrested at least three of them for suspected Maoist links.

A quick analysis of the facts of the case and the judgement convicting Binayak Sen, Pijush Guha and Narayan Sanyal for rigorous life imprisonment