Maha moves top court against release of activist Navlakha
NEW DELHI: The Maharshtra government moved the Supreme Court Wednesday, challenging the Delhi high court order on the release of Gautam Navlakha, arrested in connection with BhimaKoregaon case, from house arrest.
The high court had on Monday freed Navlakha from house arrest, five weeks after he and four other activists were arrested in connection with the violence in Maharashtra.
The petition stated that the high court had misread the Code of Criminal Procedure while ordering the release of Navlakha.
Granting relief to the 65-yearold activist, the high court had also quashed the trial court’s transit remand order which he had challenged before the matter was taken to the Supreme Court.
“The case in hand depicts misreading of section 167 (1) and (2) of Code of Criminal Procedure by the high court while passing the impugned order,” said the petition filed by Shivaji Panditrao Pawar, assistant commissioner of police, Pune.
Section 167 (1) states that in case an accused is to be produced before the jurisdictional magistrate, it is incumbent upon the police to produce the case diary.
The plea stated in case the police apply for transit remand before a magistrate having no jurisdiction, it is not necessary for the police to produce the case diary. “In the case in hand, the police arrested five persons from different places in the country. It was, therefore, not expected and not possible to produce the case diary before concerned courts.”
It added that the high court had “erred” in stating that there was non-application of mind by the chief metropolitan magistrate in passing the order of transit remand, it said.
“It needs to be seen that, while passing the order of transit remand the magistrate had gone through the application filed by the police and he had heard the concerned police officer. It is not possible/pragmatic to mention minute details while passing the order of remand,” it said.