Bhima Koregaon Case: Gautam Navlakha Moves SC Against HC Order

Civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha.

(Photo: The Quint)

Civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court's order refusing to quash an FIR filed against him by the Pune police in the Bhima-Koregaon case.

Navlakha's plea will be heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Monday, 30 September.

The Bombay High Court on 13 September rejected Navlakha’s plea seeking to quash the FIR filed against him early last year by the Pune Police for his alleged Maoist links and involvement in the Bhima-Koregaon and Elgar Parishad cases.

Soon after Bombay High Court rejected his plea, the Maharashtra government filed a caveat in the Supreme Court anticipating Navlakha's appeal against the high court's order.

A caveat means that the court cannot pass an order without hearing the other side.

Navlakha, along with nine other prominent human rights and civil liberties activists were arrested in the case by Pune Police from different parts of India, for their role in the 31 December 2017 Elgar Parishad held in Pune, which served as a trigger for the caste riots in Bhima-Koregaon the next day on 1 January 2018.

Among other things, they were charged with alleged links with the banned CPI-Maoist, a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to overthrow the elected government.