Elgar Case: Bombay HC Rejects Gautam Navlakha's Shift to House Arrest Plea

Gautam Navlakha is one of 16 accused in a case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad meet in Pune in 2017.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday, 26 April, dismissed a plea filed by activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, seeking to be moved to house arrest instead of judicial custody in Taloja jail as it lacked basic medical facilities, reported LiveLaw.

A bench of Justices SB Shukre and GA Sanap dismissed the plea and said that any grievances faced by Navlakha pertaining to the lack of medical aid and basic facilities in Taloja jail could be placed before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for appropriate action.

The order stated,

"Petitioner would be at liberty to bring to the attention of presiding officer of special NIA court the grievances in respect of difficulties faced by him and the said officer directed to ensure grievance redressed within parameters of law."

Navlakha's advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry said that his client has developed chronic back pain but was denied a chair.

The bench added that the court might order house arrest in appropriate cases considering the accused's age, health, and antecedents. However, Navlakha asserted that he falls within the parameters of the law.

The Bhima Koregaon Case

Navlakha is one of 16 accused in a case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad meet in Pune in 2017. He has been imprisoned in Taloja Central Jail, Navi Mumbai, since 25 May 2020.

For more than six months now, since 12 October 2021, the nearly 70 years old Navlakha, an undertrial suffering from multiple health problems, has been in solitary confinement in the high-security area of Taloja Jail, a space meant to segregate those guilty of heinous crimes.

The septuagenarian had approached the high court early last year seeking to be placed under house arrest due to his medical ailments and the lack of basic facilities in prison.