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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted Bhima Koregaon case-accused Gautam Navlakha to be placed under house arrest for a period of one month, taking into consideration his health and age. Navlakha had requested house arrest instead of judicial custody in Taloja jail, Maharashtra.
The Gwalior-born civil rights activist is an active member of the People’s Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR). Trained in economics and political science in Mumbai, 65-year-old Navlakha worked with the digital newsportal Newsclick before his arrest. He was with academic journal Economic and Political Weekly for over 30 years. He is also the author of the book Days and Nights in the Heartland of Rebellion.
According to his associates, this was the first time a criminal proceeding had been initiated against him.
His extensive work on Kashmir has often riled governments. His recent works focussed on Chhattisgarh.
In a paper for the EPW on the report of the Concerned Citizens Group to Jammu & Kashmir in 2018, he wrote: “In the nearly three-decade-long military suppression in J&K, there have been several attempts by public-spirited persons to visit and share their findings in the form of reports. Starting with the Committee for Initiative on Kashmir and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties-Citizens for Democracy in 1990 to the present time, a number of such efforts have tried to create an informed opinion regarding the “Kashmir Question,” the public mood in Kashmir, as well as conditions on the ground resulting from armed conflict. In contrast to the initial reports, which took a stance on the Kashmir question upfront, either supporting right of self-determination or advocating autonomy, the situation now is one where most efforts are cagey in talking about solutions.”
The Elgaar Parishad case is one of the two ongoing investigations related to the Koregaon Bhima violence witnessed on January 1, 2018. This one is based on an FIR filed in Pune alleging that banned Naxalite groups had organized the Elgaar Parishad, an evening programme organised in the city on December 31, 2017, on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. Police claims that speeches made at Elgaar Parishad were at least partly responsible for instigating violence the next day.
The Elgaar Parishad case became prominent because of the arrests of some high profile activists and lawyers, including Navlakha. Some of those arrested have been in jail for over a year now.
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