The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Friday its verdict on a plea by historian Romila Thapar and others seeking the immediate release of five human rights activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence and an SIT probe into their arrest.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had reserved the judgement on September 20 after counsel for both parties, including senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Harish Salve and Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, concluded their submissions.
The bench, that also comprised Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, had asked the Maharashtra Police to file its case diary pertaining to the ongoing investigation in the case.
The five activists—Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha—are under arrest at their respective homes since August 29.
The plea—by Thapar, economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, sociology professor Satish Deshpande and human rights lawyer Maja Daruwala—has sought an independent probe into the arrests and the immediate release of the activists.
The Maharashtra Police had arrested the activists on August 28 in connection with an FIR lodged following a conclave—Elgar Parishad—held on December 31 last year that had later triggered violence at Bhima-Koregaon village near Pune.
The Supreme Court had on September 19 said it would look into the case with a "hawk's eye" as "liberty cannot be sacrificed at the altar of conjectures".
The Supreme Court had told the Maharashtra government that there should be a clear-cut distinction between opposition and dissent on one hand and attempts to create disturbance, law and order problems or overthrow the government on the other.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, Ashwini Kumar and advocate Prashant Bhushan had also alleged that the entire case was cooked up and adequate safeguards should be provided to protect the liberty of the five activists.
The Supreme Court had also said that it may order an SIT probe if it found that the evidence has been "cooked up".