The High Court of Bombay on Wednesday adjourned to July 25, the regular bail petition of human rights activist Gautam Navlakaha, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case of 2018.
Earlier on April 7, a Special National Investigation Agency court had denied regular bail to the former secretary of People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR).
Special Judge Rajesh Katariya heard Navlakha’s bail plea, as directed by the Bombay High Court and refused to grant regular bail to the activist.
On November 10 last year, the Supreme Court had shifted the 73-year-old human rights activist from Taloja Prison, where he was then lodged, to house arrest for one month, on medical grounds.
The Bench of Justice K.M. Joseph and Justice Hrishikesh Roy passed an interim order for his one-month house arrest in Mumbai, considering his age and medical conditions.
The Apex Court had put some conditions on the activist during his house arrest. Navlakha was told not to use mobile phone, internet, laptop or any other communicating device. He was permitted to use a mobile phone provided by the police for 10 minutes in a day in presence of police personnel. Only his sister and daughter were allowed to visit him once a week for three hours.
The top court of the country asked Navlakha to deposit Rs 2.4 lakh for expenses incurred by the state in providing police security. It further directed that Navlakha’s house will remain under surveillance. Police personnel will be deployed outside the residence, while CCTV cameras will be installed outside the rooms and at both entry and exit points of the house, said the Apex Court order.
Navlakha was told not to leave the house under any circumstance, except for walks in the company of Police personnel. The activist was also prohibited from talking to any person during walks.
NIA had claimed that Navlakha was in ‘touch’ with Kashmiri extremists and even Pakistan intelligence agency ISI. It further said that the agency would be unable to prevent the activist from writing mails during house arrest.The Counsel for NIA produced documents procured from the US court, which allegedly linked the activist to ISI agent Ghulam Nabi Fai, who was convicted in the US for accepting funds from the ISI.
On December 14, 2022, the Apex Court extended the interim order of house arrest till the second week of January 2023. On January 9 this year, the top court of the country again extended Navlakha’s house arrest till February 17.
Navlakha, one of the several civil liberties activists in the Elgar Parishad Maoists links case, was booked under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for an alleged conspiracy to topple the government.
Navlakha is presently residing in Navi Mumbai city of Thane district. Last year, he moved the High Court when the special NIA court rejected his bail plea on September 5.
NIA opposed Navlakha’s bail on the grounds that he had been introduced to a Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General for his recruitment, which showed his nexus with the organisation.
However, the High Court said that the reasoning in the special court order was cryptic and did not contain analysis of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution.
Keeping this in mind, the Court ruled that the bail application should be re-heard by the special court, and remanded the case back to the court.
The court further directed the special judges to conclude the hearing within four weeks.
Navlakha then moved the special court for re-hearing his case for regular bail on March 15.