May 14, 2024 12:53 PM IST
A bench of justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti underlined the prolonged nature of the case and highlighted that it might take several years for the trial to conclude
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha, who is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case, subject to the payment of ₹20 lakh for his house arrest.
The decision was delivered by a bench comprising justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti, which underlined the prolonged nature of the case and highlighted that it might take several more years for the trial to conclude considering the number of witnesses and other pertinent factors.
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“We are inclined to not extend the stay as the Bombay high court order is detailed in granting bail. The trial would take years and years and years to complete. Without going at length into contentions, we will not extend the stay,” said the bench in its order on Tuesday.
The court was hearing the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) appeal against the high court order in December, granting bail to Navlakha. The high court noted that there was no material evidence to infer that he had committed a terrorist act under Section 15 of the UAPA. The high court order was stayed after the NIA sought time to challenge it in the Supreme Court. This stay was repeatedly extended.
Navlakha, a journalist and activist, was arrested on April 14, 2020, for his alleged involvement in the violence in the Bhima Koregaon, which concerns alleged provocative remarks made on December 31, 2017, at an Elgar Parishad conference in Pune. According to the Maharashtra police, these remarks caused unrest the next day outside the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial, which is on the outskirts of the city in western Maharashtra. In the incident, one person lost his life.
Navlakha, a human rights activist and former Secretary of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), was initially arrested in August 2018. He was kept under house arrest but subsequently sent to judicial custody in Taloja Central Prison in April 2020 after a Supreme Court order. He was later placed under house arrest again in November 2022 after the Supreme Court approved his plea, citing his advanced age. He has remained under house arrest in Navi Mumbai since.
The court on Tuesday considered Navlakha’s plea regarding the terms of his house arrest concurrently with the bail matter when it lifted the interim stay, noting that he has been incarcerated for more than four years and that the trial could take an extended period to complete. The court also considered that charges have not yet been framed against him.
During earlier proceedings, senior counsel Nitha Ramakrishnan, representing Navlakha, pointed out that there were 375 witnesses in the case, suggesting that the trial could extend for another decade. She also expressed concern that the high court’s bail order had been stayed without hearing Navlakha’s side.
Regarding the house arrest, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Navlakha to pay ₹20 lakh as a pre-condition for bail, even as additional solicitor-general SV Raju, appearing for the NIA, claimed that the dues owed to it by Navlakha on account of expenses for the house arrest had risen to about ₹1.75 crore. The court listed the NIA’s appeal against the bail for a later date, adding the issue of monetary dues for house arrest could also be taken up subsequently.
In an earlier hearing, the bench indicated that Navlakha must cover the surveillance expenses incurred by the NIA if he sought house arrest. Navlakha’s legal team assured the court that paying these expenses was not an issue and that the concern was about calculating the correct amount.
