New Delhi: On Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided to give bail to the civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha about the Bhima Koregaon violence case. The bail was associated with the payment of ₹20 lakh for his house arrest. Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti emphasized the long period of the case and stated that the trial might take several more years to finish because of many factors.
The court ruling was made during the National Investigation Agency’s appeal against the Bombay High Court’s order to free Navlakha in December. The High Court had mentioned that there was no material evidence to prove Navlakha’s link with terrorist activities under the UAPA. The Supreme Court had refused to implement the High Court’s decision after the NIA asked for more time to contest it.
Navlakha, who is a journalist and activist, was arrested on April 14, 2020, for his alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon violence, which is linked to the provocative remarks made during the Elgar Parishad conference, held in Pune on December 31, 2017. The accident caused chaos the day after near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial, where one person died.
At first, in August 2018, Navlakha was arrested and then put under house arrest and later transferred to Taloja Central Prison in judicial custody following the order of the Supreme Court. He was once again under house arrest in November 2022 after the Supreme Court approved his plea, considering his advanced age. Ever since that time, he has been under house arrest in Navi Mumbai.
On Tuesday’s proceedings, Navlakha’s counsel underlined the large number of witnesses in the case, implying that the trial could be long. The court, based on Navlakha’s house arrest conditions and the bail matter, which had lifted the interim stay, had observed that the charges had not yet been presented against him.
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