‘Comical’: Judge roasts jail officials who refused Navlakha request for PG Wodehouse book

The Bombay high court was told that an official at Taloja jail refused to let Gautam Navlakha access PG Wodehouse’s The World of Jeeves, calling the book a security risk. The NIA lawyer confirmed the refusal but stressed that the agency didn’t have anything to do with the decision

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday expressed displeasure at the approach of jail officials after it was told that Taloja jail officials refused to allow Elgar Parishad accused Gautam Navlakha a book by a PG Wodehouse, calling it a security risk.

Civil rights activist gautam Navlakha is among the 15 prominent activists, academics, and lawyers arrested in the Elgar Parishad case (HT File Photo/Bachchan Kumar)

“This is really comical. It shows the attitude of the jail authorities,” said the division bench of justices Sunil Shukre and GA Sanap. “It is your job to make the life of the prisoner comfortable,” the bench added.

The bench was hearing an application by Navlakha, seeking orders to place him under house arrest rather than the Taloja jail. During the course of the hearing, his lawyer Yug Choudhary said that the 70-year-old was facing a lot of problems in jail and was not being provided basic needs like spectacles and a chair.

It was in this context that Choudhary cited the refusal of the jail authorities to let Navlakha receive PG Wodehouse’s ‘The World of Jeeves’, saying that the book, a collection of short stories, was a security threat. The bench sought to know from lawyer Sandesh Patil, who was appearing for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), if it was true.

The judges were also annoyed that the state government lawyer wasn’t present at the hearing.

After the bench was informed that no advocate was appearing for the state government or prison authorities, the bench expressed its displeasure. After additional solicitor general Anil Sigh assured the bench that the advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni would be requested to assist the court on the next date, the bench adjourned the hearing on the petition.

To be sure, this is not the first time that Gautam Navlakha has complained about jail officials withholding the books including the one authored by P G Wodehouse . In January 2021, the NIA court ruled it was within the power of the jail to allow articles to undertrial prisoners. 

Earlier, Choudhary stressed that Navlakha has developed several health issues since he was kept at Taloja jail over the past two years and there was a concern that his health condition may worsen like that of other accused P Varavara Rao and Fr Stan Swamy.

Choudhary said that if Navlakha continued to stay in the squalid conditions of the jail, he won’t be fit to stand trial which wasn’t expected to start anytime soon.

Navlakh’s lawyer also complained that the quarantine barrack Navlakha was transferred to was not fit for human habitation and even the bathrooms were not cleaned. Choudhary also underlined that the state’s affidavit in response to his plea did not deal with any of the specific points raised by him about the jail conditions.