THE SUPREME Court Tuesday granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, noting that the trial in the case was not likely to conclude any time soon. A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and S V N Bhatti declined to continue the stay imposed by the Bombay High Court in December 2023 on its bail order and added that Navlakha will have to pay Rs 20 lakh towards the expenses for his security during house arrest. Navlakha was arrested on April 14, 2020 for his alleged involvement in the violence that erupted in Bhima Koregaon village in Pune district on January 1, 2018, a day after alleged inflammatory speeches were made at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune. The bench noted that Navlakha has been in custody for more than four years and that the trial would take a long time to complete as there are 370 witnesses in the case, that six of his co-accused have already been released on bail and that the charges had also not been framed yet. “Prima facie we are of the view that there is no need to extend the interim order of bail. The appellant has been in incarceration for more than four years and charges are yet to be framed. the High Court by detailed order has deemed fit to grant bail. The trial would take years and years and years to complete. Thus.we are not inclined to extend the stay,” the court said and asked Navlakha to cooperate with the trial. The court was hearing an appeal filed by the NIA challenging the High Court order granting him bail. The NIA’s counsel contended that the allegations were serious and that not all the co-accused had been granted bail. While granting Navlakha bail, the High Court had said that “no covert or overt terrorist act has been attributed to him under Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967”. It added that “at the most, it can be said that Navlakha is a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) attracting sections 13 (unlawful activities) and 38 (membership of a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act”. Navlakha was placed under house arrest in Navi Mumbai subject to strict conditions following a Supreme Court order in November 2022, after he pleaded poor health. While the special NIA court, as it rejected Navlakha’s bail plea, had said there was prima facie evidence of a nexus between him and Syed Gulam Nabi Fai, convicted by a US court in 2012 for links with Pakistani spy agency ISI, the High Court had said it had no correlation with the present crime. According to the NIA, Navlakha had written to the US court seeking clemency for Fai.
