Activist Gautam Navlakha’s lawyer has apprised the Bombay High Court that the Communist Party of India (Maoist) had suspected the senior journalist of being a government ‘agent,’ who could negatively impact their movement.
Seeking bail for Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad Maoist Links case, Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry apprised the Bench of Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice P.D. Naik that the charges levelled by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Navlakha under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were diametrically opposite to CPI’s condescension against Navlakha.
NIA had accused Navlakha of having ‘deep involvement’ in the activities of the CPI(Maoist) party, besides having connections with Pakistan intelligence agency ISI and the separatist movement of Kashmir.
Chaudhry cited a document seized from co-accused researcher Rona Wilson’s laptop to validate his arguments. Stating that one of the surest signs of independence was being criticised and attacked by both sides, Chaudhry said the judges would know best as the judiciary was often accused of bias by the losing side.
The 74-year-old activist was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon violence case on April 14, 2020. On November 10 last year, the Supreme Court placed him under house arrest.
He submitted that the 10-page document was an internal report prepared by the Maoists on Navlakha as they suspected him of ‘turning’ completely against them, after he fulfilled his goal of visiting the area and established himself as an authority on the Maoist movement in India and abroad.
The Counsel contended that Navlakha had been critical of Maoist ideology and had gone undercover to live and travel with the Maoists and later chronicled it in the Economic and Political Weekly.
Citing the report, Chaudhry said that Navlakha had allegedly misguided the Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir as well as the Maoists and created a rift between separatist leaders in the valley. Moreover, he was closely working with N.N. Vohra, former secretary of Defence ministry on a youth programme called ‘Himayat’ in Kashmir to change the ongoing discourse of Azadi to a discourse of peace and rehabilitation, added the lawyer.
He said Navlakha’s partner Sabah had several Indian Government-sponsored NGOs in Kashmir, wherein they would counsel the youth against taking up arms. Navlakha worked closely with Sabah on this project, added the lawyer.
Chaudhry termed the report as a ‘foundational document,’ which made it very clear that Navlakha was not a member of CPI (M), but someone they suspected as an ‘enemy’.
One of the several civil liberties activists in the Elgar Parishad Maoists links case, Navlakha was booked under the stringent provisions of UAPA for an alleged conspiracy to topple the government. He surrendered on April 14, 2020, after his anticipatory bail application was rejected by the Supreme Court.
The case dates back to December 31, 2017, when an Elgaar Parishad conclave was held in Pune. Navlakha and others were booked for delivering provocative speeches during the event, which led to violence on January 1, 2018. Police had alleged that the event was funded by Maoists.