Elgar Parishad case: Bombay HC rejects bail to Navlakha
The Bombay High Court on Monday rejected the bail plea filed by Gautam Navlakha, a senior journalist and activist arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case for allegedly having links with Maoists.
The division bench of Justice S.S. Shinde and Justice M.S. Karnik observed in its order that the court saw no reason to interfere with the order of the trial court, which rejected his bail application. Navlakha had sought default bail saying the central probe agency National Investigation Agency (NIA) failed to file charge sheet against him within stipulated 90 days time and hence he was entitled for default bail. After hearing the arguments the trial court had rejected his bail application.
According to Navlakha’s lawyers Kapil Sibal and Yug Chaudhry, their client was placed under house arrest, following an order of the court, therefore it would be termed as judicial custody. The order had restricted his movement, making his plea for release, under section 167(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), valid. Mr Sibal had argued the NIA sought an extension to file their chargesheet, on June 29, last year. By then Navalakha had spent nearly 100 days in prison, taking into account 34 days of custody.
Additional solicitor general S.V. Raju on behalf of the NIA opposed the bail application and argued that the date an accused was produced before the court was relevant not the date of arrest while deciding if she/he should be granted default bail or not.