"Pressure Cooker Will Burst If...": Supreme Court On Activists' Arrests
NEW DELHI, August 29: While granting reprieve to five activists who were arrested yesterday under an anti-terror law on charges of Maoist activities, the Supreme Court today said: "Dissent is the safety valve of democracy".
The court said poet and Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao and activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Fereira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves, will be under house arrest till the next hearing on September 6.
"Dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If you don't allow the safety valve pressure cooker will burst," said the five-judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
The court asked the Maharashtra government to file a response to the petition challenging the arrests. The activists will kept under house arrest till September 6, said a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
The Pune police claims that the activists were linked to a bigger conspiracy and planning to recruit members from 35 colleges and launch attacks.
The activists have been charged under the controversial Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, which authorizes raids and arrest without warrant if a person is suspected to "support terrorist acts or unlawful activities".
The police say the arrest of the activists follow the arrest of five other activists earlier this year in June, when the police retrieved a huge amount of data.
Those arrested earlier were charged with the January 1 clashes that broke out at Bhima-Koregaon near Pune, between Dalits and upper caste Marathas at an annual event.
Police say that the fresh round of arrests were of individuals also behind the caste clashes, but - in a seeming contradiction - also said they are yet to determine "how the accused succeeded in inciting the violence".
Courtesy: www.ndtv.com
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World No. 1 Chakravarthy achieves career-best rating in ICC T20I bowler rankings
Dubai (PTI): India spinner Varun Chakravarthy on Wednesday consolidated his position at the top of the ICC Men's T20I Bowler Rankings, reaching a career-best rating following a stellar show in the ongoing T20 series against South Africa.
The 34-year-old Chakravarthy earned a new best rating of 818 points on the back of his third consecutive two-wicket haul in five-game home series.
The right-armer has six wickets across the first three matches of the series, with his spell of 2/11 from four economical overs in the most recent contest in Dharamsala proving pivotal in India's clinical seven-wicket triumph.
Chakravarthy (818 rating points) now holds a 119-point advantage over his closest rival in New Zealand seamer Jacob Duffy (699) in second-place, while also moveing inside the top 10 for the best rating of all-time for T20I bowlers.
Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh also improved four places to 16th overall on the rankings for T20I bowlers on the back of his Player of the Match heroics against the Proteas in the third game.
For South Africa, Marco Jansen (up 14 spots to 25th), Lungi Ngidi (up 11 rungs to 44th) and Ottneil Baartman also improved, reaching 68th from outside the top 100.
Among T20I batters, India now boast two players inside the top five on the rankings, with Tilak Varma gaining two spots to move to fourth overall after a trio of decent innings against South Africa.
Teammate Abhishek Sharma maintains a decent buffer at the top, while South Africa duo Aiden Markram (up eight places to 29th) and Quinton de Kock (up 14 spots to 43rd) made good ground following some decent recent efforts.
Pakistan's Saim Ayub has a narrow lead at the top of the rankings for T20I all-rounders despite not playing any international matches across the last week, with India's Shivam Dube the big mover on this list as he improves two places to 16th.
