New Delhi, September 6: The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing on bail for the five people arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case - Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varavra Rao, Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira. Since the hearing has been adjourned till Wednesday, September 12, the house arrest of the five accused will continue till then.

The apex court also pulled up the Maharashtra Police for going to the Press and holding a media interaction on the case, even as the matter was subjudice. The court has barred the police from going to the Press in the case. Justice DY Chandrachud ripped into the police for casting aspersions on the Supreme Court. "I saw Assistant Police Commissioner, Pune insinuating that SC should not have intervened at this stage. He has no business telling that," Justice Chandrachud told ASG Tushar Mehta during the hearing today.

The Maharashtra government had on Wednesday defended the raids carried out and the arrests that were made in the Bhima Koregaon violence case last month. The Devendra Fadnavis government filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court yesterday, saying that there was enough evidence against those arrested. The affidavit says that they were involved in planning large-scale violence.

"This Court is dealing with persons against whom evidence has so far come on record showing they're active members of banned terrorist org Communist Party of India [Maoist]," the affidavit says.

"They are involved in not only planning and preparing for violence but were in the process of creating large-scale violence, destruction of property resulting into chaos in the society as per the agenda prepared by the Communist Party of India [Maoist]," the Maharashtra government has said in its affidavit.

The Supreme  Court had on Wednesday last week directed that all the five people arrested on Tuesday over Bhima Koregaon violence will be kept under house arrest till September 5.

The court had while pronouncing its order last week observed, "Dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed then the pressure cooker may burst."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 06, 2018 01:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).