SC STAYS HC ORDER THAT CRITICISED NIA FOR ‘WHISKING AWAY’ NAVLAKHA

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a Delhi high court order in which it had on May 27 criticized the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for “whisking away” activist Gautam Navlakha from Delhi to Mumbai even as his interim bail was pending before it.

The high court had directed the investigating officer to produce the entire set of records filed before NIA courts in Mumbai and Delhi for obtaining a production warrant and for extension of Navlakha’s judicial remand and fixed the matter for hearing next on June 3. NIA moved the apex court against the order. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer, and Indira Banerjee directed the stay and sought response of Navlakha on NIA’s plea by June 15 when the case will be heard next. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented NIA, said the high court has no territorial jurisdiction to call for records. He added the petition pending before it related to interim bail which was not maintainable.

Mehta said NIA did not act in haste while moving Navlakha to Mumbai. Navlakha surrendered in Delhi on April 14 but could not be moved to Mumbai due to the lockdown. Navlakha was moved only after necessary permission was obtained from the NIA court in Mumbai, he said.

Navlakha and other activists face charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their alleged links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). They are accused of making inflammatory speeches at an event on December 31, 2017, that allegedly triggered violence in Bhima-Koregaon. The high court had, on May 27, pulled up NIA for “whisking away” Navlakha from Delhi on a production warrant by a special judge in Mumbai, where he is lodged at Taloja Jail.