Maharashtra police today raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least four of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.
The raids were carried out as part of a probe into the violence between Dalits and the upper caste Peshwas at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune after an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year.
The arrests are "a dangerous sign of a government that fears it is losing its mandate and is falling into panic. That lawyers, poets, writers, Dalit rights activists and intellectuals are being arrested on ludicrous charges," award-winning author Arundhati Roy told PTI.
Near simultaneous searches were carried out at the residences of prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in New Delhi, a senior police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Subsequently, Rao, Bhardwaj and Farreira were arrested.
"They have been arrested under the relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their alleged naxal activities," said the police official, without elaborating.
Although Navalakha was also arrested, the Delhi High Court ordered police not to take him out of the national capital at least until tomorrow. The high court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Navalakha by his advocate Warisha Farasat after he was picked up from his Delhi home this afternoon by the Maharashtra police
Civil Liberties Committee president Gaddam Laxman accused the BJP Government of "attacking intellectuals physically and mentally torturing them."
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