Bhima Koregaon Case : Supreme Court Seeks NIA, Maharashtra Govt Responses On Gautam Navalkha's Plea To Be Placed Under House Arrest Instead Of Jail

A bench comprising Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy, while considering the matter, asked the counsel appearing for the petitioner to brief them on the present plea.

Though she said that her senior, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal was held up in another court, Advocate Warisha Farasat made preliminary submissions, in an attempt to persuade the court to issue notice in the matter.

She submitted that the finding in the Bombay High Court order declining relief to Navlakha, stating that the petitioner does not fit in any of the criteria laid down by Supreme Court was the main reason for the petition.

On April 26, this year, the Bombay High Court had dismissed a petition Navlakha, seeking to shifted out of Taloja Prison and be placed under house arrest, instead.

Paragraph 21 of the Bombay High Court was the very reason for the present petition, the advocate pointed out.

The relevant paragraph of the order reads as follows,

"It is pertinent to note that the Hon'ble Apex Court has observed that in appropriate cases it will be open to Courts to order house arrest. It is observed that the criteria like age, health condition, antecedents of the accused, the nature of crime, the need for other forms of custody and the ability to enforce the terms of the house arrest, would be some of the indicative factors. In our (Bombay High Court's) view, the case of the petitioner does not fit in any of the criteria. In the facts and circumstances, we conclude that this is not a fit case to grant the prayer."

"If nothing else, he is 70 years old, milords", she argued, while adding that the petitioner has a couple of serious health conditions as well.

"It is a strange case, milords. He has been placed under house arrest earlier without any incidents", she added.

"Where will he stay in case of house arrest?", Justice Joseph asked.

"If my lords want to give Bombay, he can stay with his sisters. One of them is cancer survivor. It really is a plea based on his health condition. It's a strange case, earlier also he been kept under house arrest. There are no cases against him", the counsel for the petitioner said.

Hearing this, the Court issued notice in the matter while granting liberty to serve the standing counsel for the NIA and Maharashtra government.

The matter will be next taken up on September 29.

The septuagenarian, along with 14 other civil liberties activists, is accused under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly furthering the banned CPI(M)'s agenda and conspiring to overthrow the government. Evidence in the case is mainly in electronic form.

The NIA accused them of instigating the caste violence that erupted at Bhima Koregaon, a war memorial cite in Pune, on January 1, 2018.

Case Title: Gautam Navlakha Versus National Investigation Agency And Anr | Diary No. 23064-2022 Ii-A