In the case involving Elgar Parishad and its Maoist connections, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha. According to a division bench headed by Justice AS Gadkari, Navlakha’s bail application was “allowed”. The court temporarily stayed the order for three weeks after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought that it be stayed for six weeks so that it could file an appeal before the Supreme Court. In November last year, the Supreme Court approved placing Gautam Navlakha under house arrest. Navlakha was arrested in August 2018. He currently lives in Navi Mumbai. Let’s continue reading.
Bhima Koregaon Case
Against a bail bond of 1 lakh, Gautam Navlakha was granted bail by the Bombay High Court. He is the seventh accused in the case to be released on bail. A special court denied bail to Gautam Navlakha in April this year, citing prima facie evidence that the activist was an active participant in the illegal CPI (Maoist). Gautam Navlakha claimed that the special court had erred in denying him bail in his appeal before the high court. In this second round of appeals, Navlakha is asking the high court for regular bail. Following the special NIA court’s rejection in September 2018 of Navlakha’s regular bail application, he had earlier filed a petition in the high court.
The NIA then objected to Navlakha’s bail application, saying his connection with the organization was demonstrated by the fact that he was presented to a Pakistani intelligence (ISI) general for recruitment. Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, activists accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, were ordered to appear before a special court in Mumbai in August this year. The Supreme Court had granted them bail. In the Elgar Parishad Bhima Koregaon case, the police claim that comments made during the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017, which were inflammatory in content, incited violence the next day in the vicinity of the monument to the fallen in the Koregaon-Bhima war, which is situated on the outskirts of the city in western Maharashtra.
Among those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case of 2017-2018 were prominent activists such as Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navalakha, Anand Teltumbe, Stan Swamy, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira. Elgar Parishad, which Maharashtra police say receives funding from Maoists, has members they want to arrest. They have carried out raids in Pune, Delhi and other Indian cities. Up to 16 activists have been arrested in this case; five of them are currently out on bail. While poet Varavara Rao is currently out on bail due to health issues, academician and activist Anand Teltumbde, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Mahesh Raut are out on regular bail. In this case, Gautam Navlakha is the seventh accused to be granted bail.
Categories: Biography
Source: vtt.edu.vn