The Supreme Court on Monday (February 12) extended until March the stay on the bail granted to journalist and activist Gautam Navlakha in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, following a petition filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti was hearing the central agency's special leave petition against a Bombay High Court order granting...
The Supreme Court on Monday (February 12) extended until March the stay on the bail granted to journalist and activist Gautam Navlakha in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, following a petition filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti was hearing the central agency's special leave petition against a Bombay High Court order granting him bail last year in December. Although Navlakha's bail application was allowed by a division bench of the high court, at the NIA's insistence, it stayed the operation of the order for three weeks to allow the order to be challenged before the apex court. Last month, the Supreme Court, while directing the NIA's plea to be placed before Chief Justice DY Chandrachud to decide whether to list it with other connected petitions filed by other individuals accused in the case, extended the interim stay imposed by the Bombay High Court. During the brief courtroom exchange today, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Navlakha, expressed dissatisfaction with the stay, arguing that it was granted without proper deliberation, thereby prolonging Navlakha's detention despite the high court's bail order.
"The man is still in jail because of this stay, despite bail being allowed," Singhvi complained.
On the other hand, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju pressed for an extension of the interim stay granted earlier by the court. Acceding to his request, the bench agreed to extend the temporary stay until the next date of hearing, directed to be scheduled in the first week of March.
Navlakha, a senior journalist and human rights activist, was arrested in April 2020 under allegations of having links with Maoist groups in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case. The case against Navlakha revolves around allegations of him furthering the agenda of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and instigating caste violence during the Bhima Koregaon incident in 2018. The NIA contends that Navlakha played a central role in facilitating communication between urban cadres and underground Maoist leaders.
In December 2023, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Navlakha observing that there was no material to infer that he committed a terrorist act as contemplated under Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. However, at the NIA's request, the high court suspended the bail order for three weeks to enable the probe agency to challenge this verdict. The septuagenarian has been in custody since August 2018 for offences under the anti-terror statute. In April 2022, the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition filed by Navlakha seeking to be shifted out of Taloja Prison and placed under house arrest on grounds of ill health. In November of the same year, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy, however, allowed his appeal challenging the high court's order and directed him to be shifted to house arrest for a period of one month.
He was originally housed in a library building controlled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), but has been compelled to seek alternative accommodation after trust wanted the place back. A bench headed by Justice Sundresh is also currently hearing Navlakha's application seeking to shift his house arrest location in Mumbai. During the latest hearing of this application, the bench revealed that it had 'reservations' about the November 2022 order allowing Navlakha to be released from detention and placed under house arrest on grounds of his deteriorating health. Such an order, the court orally observed, might set the 'wrong precedent'.
Case Details
The National Investigation Agency v. Gautam P Navlakha & Anr. | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 167 of 2024
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