[Bhima Koregaon]: “It Has Become A ‘Cut, Copy, Paste’ Template Prayer To Ask For SIT Probe":Salve, SC Reserves Order

As the hearing on the plea for a SIT probe into the Bhima-Koregaon violence resumed on Thursday, ASG Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the state of Maharashtra, continued walking the apex court through the evidentiary material retrieved from the laptops, harddisks and pendrives of the accused activists.In the light of Justice D. Y. Chandrachud’s remarks on Wednesday, he assured the bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that he shall toe the line of distinction between documents that simply embody an opposition to the government and those which represent a subversion of the law and order against the government.The ASG drew the bench’s attention to several pieces of communication exchanged between the activists, reading excerpts from them- “uncertainty is growing....the enemy forces are strengthening....we are in the process of regrouping and deploying more guards....we need to increase our strength in this region as we have suffered a major setback here....we are waiting for information to gauge the strength of the enemy forces, the ROP (Road Opening Party) shall go before we launch the attack....”He indicated the mention of guerrilla warfare and Low Intensity Conflict (LIC).The ASG quoted the talk about “transfer of funds towards the expenditure of further operations” and the supply of some other material which he deliberately refrained from naming. He showed that an activist lawyer, who was subsequently arrested, was being scolded for having been unable to arrange the funds and that the advocate even offered a justification.Mr. Mehta referred to a statement in the communications recovered that “there are less enemy forces in these six regions and we will find it easier to ambush”. “Four of these places were actually ambushed!”, he corroborated.A few exchanges the ASG cited were in Hindi-“in the previous attack, 10-12 members of our group were killed. This will affect the morale of others. So go and say that those died were ‘Adivasis’ (tribals)”“Congratulations for worsening the enemy’s scenario and killing 25 members of their camp”“The investigation is ongoing at the ACP level, supervised by the DCP and under the overall care of the DG....the laptops, computers, harddisks, pen drives, memory cards of the accused were forwarded to the FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) and the time and date of the document and who sent it to whom is clear....we could not have been planting these materials for 6 years only to recover them now....we also have the last log-in and log-out timings which show there has been no interception”, advanced Mr. Mehta.He urged that the bench not allow the prayer for an independent investigation relying on several cases- “we are at a very premature stage right now....we are not questioning Your Lordships’ jurisdiction but this is not the case where it needs to be exercised....there is no vested right of the accused to seek a monitored investigation....no interference in criminal matters is permitted at the behest of strangers under the garb of a PIL”On Wednesday, the ASG had argued that of all the activists rounded up in the investigation, only Advocate Surendra Gadling and Shoma Sen have applied for bail; the others not having done so because “they know what has been recovered from them”. “Even Gadling has not proceeded with his bail application. Should he want to, I have no objections. Your Lordships may direct the bail to be decided on merit”, he concluded.In his turn, Senior Counsel Harish Salve, representing the original complainant and an intervenor before the Supreme Court, Tushar Damgude, submitted, “Yesterday Your Lordships took the view that when such kind of cases come before the court, they shall be examined with a hawk’s eye. That should be the approach where civil liberties are involved....we do have challenges where there is an amalgam of ideologies. But to what extent do we allow an ideology in the market place of ideas? Where do we draw the line?....The second area is what constitutes sedition. Merely saying that the country is not governed well or that the Constitution is not good enough is not seditious. Several senior politicians have made such statements. But there is a distinction between free speech, free thought and unlawful activity....”“It has become a ‘cut, copy, paste’ template prayer to ask for a SIT. But it has to be seen if the investigation in question is intended to foster a political idea or directed towards detecting acts contrary to the law. In case of the latter, the investigation must be allowed to continue. A SIT may not be set up where an investigation is underway unless Your Lordships have reason to believe that such investigation is not proceeding correctly. A SIT is intended to avert the risk of an investigation being derailed by those who can intercept....if there is no evidence, the accused shall be acquitted upon trial. Even in the 2G case, which involved investigation into allegations of bribery against a minister in office, all accused ...

[Bhima Koregaon]: “It Has Become A ‘Cut, Copy, Paste’ Template Prayer To Ask For SIT Probe":Salve, SC Reserves Order

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[Bhima Koregaon]: “It Has Become A ‘Cut, Copy, Paste’ Template Prayer To Ask For SIT Probe":Salve, SC Reserves Order

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