Interim relief from arrest for Navlakha

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to civil liberties activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha in a case related to caste clashes that took place on January 1, 2018 in Bhima-Koregaon near Pune.

Justice Prakash Naik has posted Navlakha’s anticipatory bail plea for hearing on December 2, along with the pre-arrest bail plea of another accused in the case , Anand Teltumbde. The judge has restrained the police from arresting Navlakha until then.

Navlakha’s application came up for hearing for the first time on Thursday when his counsel pointed out that a similar application filed by Teltumbde was scheduled for hearing on December 2. The lawyer urged the court to post Navlakha’s plea for hearing on the same day. Justice Naik, however, adjourned the hearing, after additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai opposed it.

Pai claimed that the Delhi resident has been under interim protection since August 2018, and urged the court to push ahead Teltumbde’s pleas for immediate hearing, with the plea filed by Navlakha. Justice Naik protected Navlakha from arrest through the interim order.

Police registered an offence on January 8, 2018, on the basis of a complaint lodged by a builder, Tushar Damgude, who alleged that members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Kabir Kala Manch spread hatred through provocative songs, plays and speeches at an event, Elgar Parishad, on December 31, 2017, which led to caste clashes the following day in Bhima-Koregaon.

The police conducted searches at the residences of various activists and recovered a document, ‘Strategy and Tactics of The Indian Revolution’, which allegedly stated the motive of the CPI (Maoist), a banned outfit, was to seize political power by organising people into an army and wiping out Indian Armed forces through war.