E-Paper
On Gautam Navlakha’s ‘house arrest’ request, SC gives NIA 48 hours to respond
Last year, Gautam Navlakha’s plea for default bail was rejected by the top court which refused to treat the detention period under house arrest into the actual period of sentence undergone.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the response of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) within 48 hours on a plea filed by civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha that he should be kept under house arrest instead of jail owing to his advanced age and medical condition.
Navlakha approached the top court after the Bombay high court rejected his request on April 26 finding that his demand did not meet the requirements prescribed under a 2021 Supreme Court decision.
The activist, who is facing serious charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged links with banned Maoist organization – Communist Party of India (Maoist), is currently lodged at Taloja Jail.
Issuing notice to the Maharashtra government and NIA, a bench of justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy posted the matter for hearing on Thursday.
For Navlakha, advocate Warisha Farasat appeared before the Court and submitted that the petitioner is aged 70 years and has medical conditions. She further pointed out that the petitioner had no past criminal antecedents and was placed under house arrest before he was taken into custody by the NIA on April 14, 2020.
The bench asked Farasat, “If you were to be placed under house arrest where would it be.” The counsel pointed out that Navlakha has two sisters residing in Mumbai although he is a resident of Delhi. As the bench will break for Dussehra vacation next week, Farasat requested the court to have the matter heard later this week.
Last year, Navlakha’s plea for default bail was rejected by the top court which refused to treat the detention period under house arrest into the actual period of sentence undergone.
Navlakha was in house arrest for a period of 34 days beginning August 28, 2018. On October 10, 2018, the Delhi High Court set aside the order of the Magistrate placing him under house arrest as illegal. During the period of house arrest, he was not allowed to meet anybody and even the NIA did not have access to him. After NIA took over the probe from Maharashtra police in January 2020, he was taken into police custody on April 14, 2020 and remained in the custody of NIA till April 25, 2020. Following this, he was shifted to the jail.
