Will quash charges if evidence is cooked up

​New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it will quash the case against the five arrested activists if the evidence against them is “cooked up” by the Maharashtra police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra observed that the court “must go through the evidence” to arrive at a conclusion whether there is actually substance in the criminal cases against the activists or that the case is fabricated.

The Apex court also extended the house arrest of five rights activists arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case till September 19 and fixed plea by historian Romila Thapar and four others for final hearing on the same day. The Central government also wants to produce the case diary and other evidence on that day.

Earlier in the day, the Centre told the top court that it should not have entertained the petition filed against the arrest of lawyer and trade unionist Sudha Bhardwaj, Telugu poet P Varavara Rao, activist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves for suspected Maoist links. The Centre said the magistrate concerned should have been looking into the grievance of the five activists, if any, against the arrest rather than the country’s top court.

Directing the hearing, the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said: "First of all, we must look into the material. We will see the record, what are the allegations and see if there is something real. We will quash if it is a cooked up or clumsy story." The court decided to look into the material telling senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi: "We are protecting your liberty... Your formulation on law, we will hear you on Wednesday."