Supreme Court gives relief to Gautam Navlakha, released on bail in Bhima Koregaon violence case
Supreme Court: In December last year, the Bombay High Court had also ordered the release of Gautam Navlakha on bail. However, on the appeal of the investigating agency NIA, the High Court had stayed its order for three weeks. On January 5, the Supreme Court had directed to continue the stay issued on the orders of the High Court till its further orders.
The Supreme Court has granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case. Keeping in mind the age of Gautam Navlakha and the ongoing trial in the case not being completed soon, the Supreme Court decided to grant bail to Gautam Navlakha. The court also said that other accused in this case have also been granted bail. The court said that Navlakha has been in jail for more than four years and charges have not been framed yet in this case. In such a situation, considering the long time taken in the case, the court granted bail to Navlakha.
Gautam Navlakha's house arrest security cost of Rs 20 lakh was also mandated to be paid by the Supreme Court. April 14, 2020, saw the arrest of Gautam Navlakha in connection with the Elgar Parishad case. He was placed under house arrest in his Navi Mumbai home by the Supreme Court in November of last year. Gautam Navlakha had also been ordered released on bail by the Bombay High Court in December of last year. The High Court had, however, stayed its ruling for a period of three weeks following the NIA's appeal. The stay placed on the High Court's orders was ordered to be maintained until the Supreme Court issued new orders on January 5.
The Supreme Court has also ordered Gautam Navlakha to pay Rs 20 lakh spent on his security during his house arrest. During the hearing on April 9, the Supreme Court said that Gautam Navlakha could not avoid paying Rs 1.64 crore to the Mumbai Police for security because Navlakha himself had appealed to keep him under house arrest. Gautam Navlakha and others are accused of making inflammatory statements at the Elgar Parishad conference in Pune on 31 December 2017. Police allege that due to the provocative speech of Gautam Navlakha and others, violence broke out at the Bhima Koregaon war memorial the next day of the council conference. 16 people were arrested in connection with the violence, out of which five are currently out on bail.
