Romila Thapar vs Union of India

Date of Judgement: 28 September, 2018

Bench: Jus ce Dipak Mishra, Jus ce DY Chandrachud & Jus ce A.M. Khanwilkar

Facts of the Case:

On 28th August 2018, the pe on was filed before Supreme Court under Ar cle 32 by five illustrious
persons who were famous human rights ac vists, journalists, advocates and poli cal worker: Romila
Thapar, Devaki Jain, Prabhat Patnaik, Sa sh Deshpande and Maja Dharuwala challenging the arrests of
five human right ac vists named Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonzalves, Arun Ferreira
and Varavara Rao.

This pe on was filed a er the Maharashtra Police carried simultaneous raids across different parts of
the country in rela on to the Bhima Koregaon violence. According to the Police, the ac vist were
members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) which is a banned organiza on under the Unlawful
Ac vi es Preven on Act (UAPA).
The pe oners challenged the arrest by claiming that it was made in an arbitrary manner and stopped
the arrested ac vist to help the poor and needy people. Further, the ac on of the police was to silence
the voice of dissent against the concerned government. It also violated the ac vists’ rights to equality
before the law (Ar cle 14), freedom of speech (Ar cle 19) and personal liberty (Ar cle 21).
In the pe on, the pe oner requested the Court to form a Special Inves ga on Team for ensuring
independent inves ga on into the arrest of stated five human rights ac vists.

Issues:

1. Whether there was a misuse of the provisions of the UAPA against the accused persons?

2. Whether the arrest infringed equality before the law (Ar cle 14), freedom of speech (Ar cle 19) and
personal liberty (Ar cle 21)?

3. Whether the pe oners can choose an inves ga on agency of their own choice?