A number of prominent youth leaders, activists and authors issued a joint statement, alleging it was an attempt by the BJP to engage in "scaremongering" and "polarise" the 2019 elections in its favour.
High drama followed the arrest of civil rights activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj with the Faridabad Chief Judicial Magistrate granting transit remand for her only to change it four hours later and asking her to be kept under house arrest till August 30.
Sudha Bharadwaj is one of the five activists who were arrested on Tuesday during a multi-city sweep by the Pune Police over allegations of Maoist links. The arrests, made in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence on December 31 - in which Dalit activists had clashed with upper-caste Marathas - triggered widespread shock and anger.
The raids were carried out in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Faridabad, Delhi and Thane. As per sources privy to the latest developments in the case, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha, Gonsalves and Sudha Bhardwaj were arrested following the raids that were conducted by the Pune Police. The police have booked all these accused under Sections 153 A, 505(1) B,117,120 B,13,16,18,20,38,39,40 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Sudha Bhardwaj's advocate Sanjeev Choudhary said, "Out transit bail application was dismissed. We had informed Chief Judicial Magistrate that the High Court in Chandigarh intervened and passed interim order that Pune Police won't take her under custody and she will be under house arrest for three days."
"The matter will once again be taken up before the High Court in Chandigarh after three days. Still, the Pune Police arrested her. It's a complete violation of the order of the High Court," he added.
Activists Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj were detained in Hyderabad and Faridabad respectively and Gautam Navlakha was arrested from Delhi. A search was also conducted at activist Stan Swamy's residence in Ranchi. However, he was not arrested.
The Bhima Koregaon violence erupted while observing the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January. A youth died and several others, including 10 policemen, were injured in the violence.
(With ANI inputs)