Gautam Navlakha's Spectacles Stolen; Taloja Jail Refuses Specs Sent By Family, Says Partner

Moreover, the family sent him a new pair but the jail authorities refused to accept it, Ms.Hussain alleged.

"Gautam Navlakha, nearly 70, patient of several ailments, had his spectacles stolen on November 27. It was an emergency, for he is close to blind without his glasses. Yet, he was not permitted to call his home for a replacement until three days later, but even that call proved futile. His partner Sahba Husain had a new pair made and sent it to Taloja Jail. The jail authorities were informed that Gautam was almost blind without the spectacles and that they would be arriving any day and to ensure that the parcel is accepted and not returned. In spite of this the jail refused to accept the parcel when it arrived by post.

Presently Gautam Navlakha is in acute distress, is unable to see things around him and consequently his blood pressure has shot up . The tall claims made by Indian authorities on jail conditions, in their extradition cases and constitutional directives on the rights of prisoners are alike mocked by this act of deliberate and perverse cruelty. It may be recalled that 80 year old Stan Swamy was driven desperate for a sipper and straw, Varavara Rao turned critically ill in jail, amidst lamentable conditions in jail and quarantine centres. The courier receipt is attached herewith."

As per the courier receipt, spectacles were sent by Speed Post on December 3 and was delivered on December 5 but the jail authorities refused to accept it and the package was returned the next day.

Father Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old jesuit priest who was arrested from his home in Ranchi by the NIA on October 8, 2020, had filed an application seeking straw and sipper on November 6, as he is unable to hold a glass due to severe shaking of hands as a result of Parkinson's disease. NIA filed its reply after seeking three weeks time, and the agency told the Court that they did not recover any straw and sipper from him at the time of his arrest hence they could not provide him the same.

After NIA's reply expressing their inability to grant Father Stan Swamy's request seeking straw and sipper, a group of lawyers sent straws and sippers for him to Taloja jail. Finally, on Friday Father Stan's lawyer informed the Special NIA Court that straw and sipper has been provided to his client along with winter clothes that he had asked for.