The Supreme Court on Monday refused to order a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the attacks on social activist Agnivesh in Delhi and Jharkhand, reported PTI. The court said the state police were looking into the matter and told Agnivesh he can approach the High Court.

“We are not saying what happened to you is right or wrong,” said Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao. “But the state police is investigating the matter. We cannot order CBI probe.” The judges also refused to club the two first information reports registered after attacks on Agnivesh, saying they were two different incidents.

In his plea, 79-year-old Agnivesh claimed the Jharkhand Police were not investigating the matter. His advocate, Mehmood Pracha, pointed out that a Cabinet minister had called Agnivesh a fraud and hence a fair investigation was unlikely. Pracha cited Agnivesh’s age and demanded security for the activist. To this, the judges said, “...As far as your security is concerned, you can approach the competent authority”.

On August 17, Agnivesh was assaulted near the BJP headquarters in New Delhi when he was on his way to pay tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The police took Agnivesh into a van and moved him to safety.

The month before, he was beaten up by suspected workers of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth wing, and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, in Jharkhand. The BJP denied that its workers were responsible.