SC dismisses Gautam Navlakha’s bail plea in Bhima Koregaon case
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea of activist Gautam Navlakha, seeking bail in the Elgar Parishad-maoist link case of Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra.
A bench of justices UU Lalit and K M Joseph dismissed the appeal of Navlakha against the Bombay High Court order denying him bail in the case. Justice Joseph, who pronounced the verdict for the bench, said the court is dismissing the appeal of Navlakha. On March 26, the top court had reserved its verdict on a plea of Navlakha. The top court had on March 3 sought response from the NIA on Navlakha’s plea in which he has claimed that the charge sheet was not filed within the stipulated time period and hence, he was entitled for default bail. The FIR against him was re-registered in January 2020, and Navlakha had surrendered before the NIA on April 14, last year.
He had spent 11 days in the
NIA’S custody till April 25, and since then he is in judicial custody. According to the prosecution, some activists allegedly made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the Elgar Parishad meet in Pune on December 31, 2017, which triggered violence at Koregaon Bhima in the district the next day. It has also alleged that the event was backed by some Maoist groups.
On February 8, the high court had dismissed Navlakha’s plea saying that “it sees no reason to interfere with a special court’s order which earlier rejected his bail plea”. Navlakha had approached the high court last year, challenging the special NIA court’s order of July 12, 2020 that rejected his plea for statutory bail.