Activist Gautam Navlakha accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon caste violence case was transferred from Taloja Central Jail to house arrest for a month in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.
The Supreme Court on November 18 rejected the NIA's plea to recall its November 10 order to shift him from jail to house arrest asking if “the might of the state cannot keep an eye on an ailing, 70-year-old man”.
Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor-General S.V. Raju had urged that Mr. Navlakha was charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and had “misled” the court to understand the house arrest premises was a residential property with a library occupying the ground floor. Instead, they said, the building was an “office” of the Communist Party.
They said a recce by the NIA revealed a “kitchen door” leading outside and a collapsible grill door. They even revealed that karate classes were held on the terrace where “fit people” attend and could pose a security threat to the police guard. They also said a CCTV camera was not put up in one of the entrances to the house arrest premises.
View of the building where Bhima-Koregaon case accused and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha is to be kept under house arrest, after his release from Taloja Central Jail, in Navi Mumbai district. | Photo Credit: PTI
Mr. Navlakha, 73, had surrendered before the NIA office in Delhi on April 14, 2021, and taken into judicial custody soon thereafter. He was released from jail after a special NIA court issued a release memo in the afternoon after which he was released in the evening.
The case dates to January 1, 1818, when a battle was fought between British Army and Peshwas and they were forcibly removed. To honour their gallantry, a monument was built called ‘Vijay Stambh’. On January 1, 1927, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had visited the site and started an annual tradition to celebrate the occasion. On December 31, 2017, a public meeting was organised called ‘Elgar Parishad’ and the next day many Dalits and Bahujans gathered and were attacked by a mob which resulted in the death of a Maratha youth.
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On January 2, 2018, a local resident Anita Sawale filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide and subsequently 22 FIRs were registered in the case.
Most of them are under investigation. Subsequently, Pune police conducted a crackdown and arrested activists Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson, Varvara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, Mr. Navlakha, Hany Babu, late Father Stan Swamy, Sagar Gaichor, Ramesh Gorkhe and Jyoti Jagtap.
Mr. Bhide and Mr. Ekbote are granted bail, Mr. Teltumbde has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court on November 18 but stayed for a week, Ms. Bharadwaj is out on bail, Mr. Rao is out on medical bail and Father Stan passed away in jail on July 5, 2021.
