NEW DELHI: According to the affidavit, the accused were also involved in the process of creating large-scale violence and destruction of property resulting in chaos, as per the agenda of CPI (Maoist), which has been banned since 2009.
“They (the accused) arranged public meetings under the banner of ‘Elgaar Parishad’. It appears clearly that ‘Elgaar’ is a corrupted version of ‘Yalgaar’ which means “the attack”... they were found to be playing a very vital role in the criminal offences,” the affidavit stated.
Describing dissent as the “safety valve of democracy”, the Supreme Court had on August 29 directed that the five activists be kept under house arrest till September 6, the next date of hearing.
The court had also questioned the activists’ arrests nine months after the violence between Dalits and upper castes at Bhima Koregaon.
The Maharashtra government said the state was committed to protecting the fundamental rights of every citizen and that a mere dissenting view, difference in ideology or vehement objections to political thinking cannot only not be prohibited, but should be welcomed in any democratic country.
The SC had issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the police seeking a “factual report” on a petition filed by five people, including historian Romila Thapar and economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, seeking the release of the five arrested activists.
The Maharashtra police said the material found from computers, laptops, pen drives and memory cards of the accused clearly implicated them not only as active members of the banned CPI(ML) but also brought to light a design to commit criminal offences, which had the potential of destabilising society.