To those defending them, they are innocent intellectuals and human rights activists - voices of dissent - that define what a democracy should be all about. But to the police in Maharashtra, they are criminals, urban Maoists who have an agenda not just against the country and what we stand for, but may also have hatched a scheme to attack top political leaders. Today, there were three court hearings and at the moment the five activists who were arrested in nationwide raids by the police have been put under house arrest with the Supreme Court stating that "dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If you don't allow the safety valve, the pressure cooker will burst." On the show, we debate: is the arrest of the activists a Maoist terror plot or witch hunt to shut down dissent?
