Bombay HC Pulls Up Taloja Jail for Denying Spectacles to Navlakha

Gautam Navlakha.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday, 9 December, pulled up Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Jail officials for denying activist Gautam Navlakha a pair of eyeglasses and called for workshops to be conducted for jail officials. Navlakha is one of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.

The bench comprising Justice SS Shinde and Justice MS Karnik said:

As quoted by Bar and Bench(Image: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

As quoted by Bar and Bench(Image: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

The comments were made after Navlakha’s wife Sahba Hussain claimed that her husband’s spectacles were stolen inside the jail on 27 November, and the prison officials denied him a new pair which arrived by speed post.

Consignment of spectacles replacement for Navlakha.Photo Courtesy: Sahba Husain

The family informed the jail authorities that Navlakha is “close to blind without his glasses” and a replacement package would be sent for him by post. The authorities, however, refused to accept the parcel on 7 December, Husain says.

As quoted by Bar and Bench(Image: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

The bench was hearing petitions filed by members of the Kabir Kala Manch – a cultural organisation – and activists Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor who were arrested in the same case by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Navlakha, a patient with several ailments which puts him at a high risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, has very poor vision without his glasses. His partner alleges that he was not allowed to call for a replacement for three days until 30 November.

Navlakha has been in lodged Taloja Jail since his arrest on 1 October 2018.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times and The Indian Express)