SC declines SIT probe, says arrests not for dissent
Arrest of five activists
New Delhi, Sep 28: In a 2:1 majority judgement, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere in the arrest of five activists in the Bhima Koregaon case in Maharashtra. It also declined to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), allowing Pune police to go ahead with its probe.
The house arrest of the five rights activists -- Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira -- will continue for four more weeks, said a majority judgement, read out by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar also on behalf of Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
He said that in perusal of documents submitted before the bench it was not a case of arrest merely because of dissent or difference in political views.
In a dissenting judgement, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said liberty cherished by the Constitution would have no meaning if persecution of the five rights activists were allowed without a proper investigation.
Justice Chandrachud lashed out at the Pune police for going public with evidence and termed it as disconcerting behaviour.
Rejecting the plea seeking the SIT probe into charges that the five have links with banned CPI (Maoist) outfil and were allegedly involved in a conspiracy to kill sovereign leaders, the bench said: "The accused person cannot have a choice in the investigating agency."
However, Justice Khanwilkar said that the accused were at liberty to pursue appropriate legal relief.
As the bench extended its interim order putting them under house arrest, in his dissenting judgment Justice Chandrachud recalled the sequence of events when a senior police officer held a press conference and released letters.
Justice Chandrachud said that the impartiality of the Maharashtra Police was in doubt as it had tried to prejudice public opinion. He questioned "whether the Maharashtra Police can be trusted to carry out impartial investigation".
He ordered a court-monitored SIT probe and said that the technicalities of law cannot be allowed to override the substantive justice.
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Hyderabad woman commits suicide after allegedly getting injected with HIV-infected blood by relative
Hyderabad: A 22-year-old woman committed suicide in Hyderabad about a month after a relative allegedly injected her with HIV-infected blood after she rejected a marriage proposal, police said.
The woman is identified as Ramani. She was found dead at her grandmother's home in Annojiguda on Friday morning, according to The News Minute.
According to police, the accused, a 24-year-old man related to the victim, had been in a relationship with her. Initially their families had agreed to their marriage but the proposal was later withdrawn after medical tests confirmed that the man was HIV positive.
According to investigators, the accused allegedly injected his own blood into the woman at her home on March 11, after his marriage proposal was refused. Police said he obtained a syringe and committed the act when she was alone, allegedly with the intent of forcing her into marriage.
The incident was discovered when the woman told her relatives and was sent to a medical checkup. The accused was detained in March and put in judicial prison on allegations including attempted murder.
Police said a suicide note was recovered from the scene in which the woman mentioned being distressed by the manner in which the incident was discussed on social media. Family members stated that she had been undergoing emotional distress and had developed health complications following the assault.
