Supreme Court to look into activists’ case with ‘hawk’s eye’

The top court 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. “Our institutions must be robust enough to accommodate any dissent or opposition to the system or even to this court. We cannot sacrifice liberty at the altar of conjectures,” a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said.

The apex court extended till Thursday the house arrest of the five rights activists — Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha — at their respective homes.

During the hearing, it asked the Maharashtra government to place before it the “best documents available” as most of the material referred by it were “more like conjectures”.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Maharashtra government referred to the various stages of investigations in the case and the materials which led to the arrest of the five activists. 

“As a nation, we should be concerned at this. It is too serious a matter. I request the court to form an opinion only after hearing the matter in full,” Mehta said.

To this, Justice Chandrachud said, “Yes, we will do that, but our mind is human” and added “we will look at this case with a hawk’s eye”. “You have to make a clear-cut distinction between dissent and opposition and attempts to create disturbance, law and order problem, overthrow elected government,” it said.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for complainant Tushar Damgude, said “the court should hear the matter in full as what can be simple today may be complex tomorrow and what is complex today may be simple tomorrow”.