BOMBAY HC TURNS DOWN NAVLAKHA BAIL APPLICATION
K A Y Dodhiya
Bombay high court on Monday dismissed activist Gautam Navlakha’s bail plea in the Elgar Parishad case, saying 34 days spent under house arrest in 2018 couldn’t be included in the period of custody.
A bench of justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik said the 2018 house arrest was deemed illegal by Delhi high court, and therefore didn’t qualify as custody duly authorised by a magistrate. Under the CRPC, in cases with punishments exceeding 10 years in prison, a person is eligible for bail if a chargesheet is not filed within 90 days of detention.
”We see no reason to interfere with the well reasoned order of the learned special judge,” the bench said, upholding a National Investigation Agency special court’s order on July 12, 2020.
Navlakha was arrested by Pune police on August 28, 2018 and was kept under house arrest till October 1, 2018 -- a total of 34 days.
On October 1, 2018, Delhi HC quashed the house arrest. In January 2020, the investigation shifted from Pune Police to NIA.
On April 14, 2020, he surrendered to the NIA. He applied for bail before the NIA court on June 11, 2020 -- 59 days later. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the activist, argued that Navlakha spent 93 days in custody, including 34 days of house arrest.
The HC said there was no doubt Navlakha’s house arrest was a form of detention but it could not be included in the period of custody. The bench said for a person to be eligible for bail, the entire 90 days must be authorised by a magistrate. However, as the 34 days was held as illegal, that period could not be counted as authorised by a magistrate’s court. “In our view sans any valid authorisation/order of the magistrate detaining the appellant, the incumbent will not be entitled to a default bail,” the high court said.
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