Bombay HC remands Gautam Navlakha’s bail plea to special NIA court for fresh hearing, says ‘cryptic’ reasons given to reject plea

A division bench of Justice Ajey S Gadkari and Justice Prakash D Naik passed an order in Navlakha’s appeal seeking regular bail. He was arrested on April 14, 2020, after he surrendered in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case.

The bench noted that the trial court order had “no reason of whatever reason” in refusing relief. It added that the trial court had not given reasoning as required under section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which bars the possibility of availing bail to the accused booked under the said law if the court is “prima facie” case existed against them while rejecting bail.

The court also noted that the special judge failed to consider the 2019 Supreme Court judgement in the Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali case while rejecting bail to Navlakha. The bench noted that the reasoning in the trial court order was “cryptic” and did not consider an analysis of evidence relied on by the prosecution.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, representing the NIA, gave his consent to remand the application back to the trial court.

The bench asked the special court to decide the bail plea without being influenced by its September order. “It is made clear that this court has not made any opinion on merits,” the bench said, disposing of Navlakha’s appeal.

After Navlakha’s counsel requested the bench to hear an appeal on merits, the court said that since it was not “assisted with reasons,” it decided to remand the application back to the special court for reconsideration and sought reasoned order from it.

In the regular hearings, which began on February 27 before the high court, advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry for Navlakha had denied the NIA allegations against the accused of having ‘deep involvement’ in activities of the banned terrorist organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist).

Chaudhry had submitted that Navlakha was a scholar and researcher who had written critical articles on Maoist violence and was called a “government agent” by the Maoists. The government and the Maoists were criticising the “surest sign of his independence”, he had said.

Chaudhry had said there was no allegation or material to show his client committed any violence or terrorist act.

Earlier, the NIA, in its affidavit, had claimed that he was introduced to a Pakistani ISI General for his recruitment by Ghulam Nabi Fai, an ISI agent held in the US, and the same showed his ‘nexus and complicity’ with the ISI and its agent. The NIA had further referred to various pieces of evidence produced by it to show his complicity in furthering banned CPI (Maoist) activities and denied his claims that he had been falsely implicated in the case.

The case against Navlakha and other arrested accused pertains to the Elgaar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. The police had alleged that Maoists funded the event. Navlakha was initially kept under house arrest but later sent to judicial custody and lodged at the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.

On November 24 last year, Navlakha was released from the Taloja Central Jail and was placed under ‘house arrest’ following the Supreme Court order. He was shifted to a community hall space in a building in Navi Mumbai — ‘home’ for a month for him and his partner Sahba Husain. The Supreme Court had directed that he be placed under house arrest for an interim period. He is at present in Navi Mumbai.