"No Material To Infer Gautam Navlakha Committed Terrorist Act": Bombay High Court In Bail Order In Bhima Koregaon- Elgar Parishad Case

There is no material to infer senior journalist and accused Gautam Navlakha had committed a terrorist Act as contemplated under Section 15 of UAPA, the Bombay High Court observed in its detailed order granting him bail in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad riots case.

“The actual involvement of the appellant in any terrorist act cannot be even inferred from any of the communications and/ or statements of the witnesses,” the court observed.

The bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Shivkumar Dige granted bail to Navlakha on Tuesday but a detailed copy of the order was uploaded on Wednesday.

Navlakha, a journalist and activist was arrested on April 14, 2020 for his alleged involvement in the violence that erupted at Bhima Koregaon village in Pune district on January 1, 2018. He has been in jail for over 3 years and 8 months.

Owing to his ill health, the Supreme Court placed him under house arrest in September 2022.

Before the HC, Navlakha was represented by Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry while NIA was represented by ASG Devang Vyas.

Chaudhry submitted that Navlakha was a scholar and recognized authority on the subject of Maoism. As part of his research, he visited several camps and interviewed senior Maoist leaders. He further submitted that Navlakha is similarly placed as his co-accused who were granted bail by the Supreme Court. Moreover, no terrorist act could be attributed to him, Chaudhry argued.

The ASG opposed the bail application and cited a larger conspiracy to overthrow the government. He said Navlakha's public opposition to Maoist ideology was by design and claimed that the CPI(Maoist) constitution was recovered during searches. The cited electronic evidence in the form of letters recovered from the co-accused.

After discussing the evidence at length, the court observed that utmost Navlakha could be called a member of CPI(Maoist).

The court observed that documents and letters recovered from the co-accused, including mention of an alleged plot to assassinate a senior political leader, are 'hearsay' evidence as far as Navlakha is concerned and he cannot prima facie be held as a co-conspirator. It held:

“Even though in the said documents, the authors of it have expressed their intention to cause fatality to the politically influential persons or to cause tremendous disturbance in the Society at large, the Appellant only being a member of the party cannot be prima facie held to be a co-conspirator to it. From the material on record, it appears to us that, no covert or overt terrorist act has been attributed to the Appellant.”

Moreover, documents recovered from co-accused have weak probative value, the court said.

The court observed that as far as a letter Navlakha wrote to a US Judge requesting clemency to Kashmiri Ghulam Nabi Fai was concerned, it had no connection with the present case.

The court also said, “It was at the most the intention of the Appellant to commit the alleged crime and not more than it. The said intention has not been further transformed into preparation or attempt to commit a terrorist act, to attract Section 15 of the UAP Act.”

Mere possession of CPI (Maoist) literature does not attract provisions of UAPA relating to terrorist acts, the bench added.

The bench took note of a report from the trial court stating it would take another year to frame charges and begin the trial. “Navlakha has already undergone over 3 years 8 months of incarceration. This amounts to a denial of his constitutional right to speedy trial,” the bench said.

Imposing several bail conditions, the bench directed Navlakha to furnish a personal release bond of Rs 1 lakh plus a surety of like amount. He has also been asked not to leave Mumbai without prior permission and refrain from influencing the prosecution witnesses.

The High Court however stayed its order for 3 weeks after the NIA sought time to challenge it in the Supreme Court. Activists Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Anand Teltumbde and Mahesh Raut, who were co-accused along with Navlakha in the case, have already been granted bail.

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