Bhima Koregaon: “We’ll look at this case with hawk’s eyes”, DY Chandrachud J.

Justice DY Chandrachud today remarked that the Supreme Court will examine the case relating to Bhima Koregaon raids and arrests closely while underscoring that institutions in the country, including the Judiciary, need to be “robust” to deal with dissent..He said that the liberty of the citizens cannot be curbed based on conjectures and the court will examine the case with hawk’s eyes..“We can’t stifle liberties at the altar of conjectures…We’ll look at this case with hawk’s eyes”, Justice Chandrachud said during the hearing in Bhima Koregaon case..The case concerning the arrests of lawyers and activists by Pune Police in Bhima Koregaon is being heard by the Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud..The remarks were made when Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was advancing his arguments for the State of Maharashtra..Justice Chandrachud noticed and pointed out that the report submitted by Mehta in support of the arrests even contained names of institutes and universities and said that a distinction needs to be made between what is dissent and what is an act of creating disturbances..He said that the institutions, including the Supreme Court, must be robust to accommodate dissent and criticism, even when they “may not like it”..“We may not like it but we must also accept there could be dissent… .… Let us make a distinction between an opposition and attempts to create disturbance and to overthrow the government”.Welcoming this thought, Mehta agreed that there must be a distinction but qualified the thought by adding that dissent coming from different actors carries different connotations..Senior Counsel Harish Salve, representing the complainant in the case, backed Mehta’s argument and presented an example before the Court. It was Salve’s case that if a liberal person calls for burning of the Constitution of India saying that it has led to an “unjust society”, it may not be a seditious act..However, he added that the same call for desecrating the Constitution by a member of a banned outfit or a terror organization would not be the same and would have different repercussions..Justice Chandrachud, however, responded that individual liberties cannot be curbed “at the altar of conjectures.”.The Court will continue hearing the case on Thursday and the interim order of house arrest of the five accused will continue.