New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case saying that the trial in the matter would take years and years for completion.
A bench comprising justices MM Sundresh and S V N Bhatti declined to extend the stay imposed by the Bombay High Court order on the bail granted to Navlakha in the case. Justice Sundresh said Navlakha has been in jail for over four years and charges are yet to be framed in the case.
"We are inclined to not extend the stay as the high court order is detailed in granting bail.... Trial would take years and years and years for completion…. Without going at length into contentions, we will not extend the stay….. A sum of Rs 20 lakh to be paid to the opposite party as earliest”, said the bench.
Additional solicitor general SV Raju said that Rs 20 Lakh is almost 10% of his total dues regarding his security cover during the period of his house arrest and insisted on Rs 50 Lakh towards Navlakha’s dues. Raju also pressed that the court should consider Navlakha’s house arrest period.
On March 7, the NIA had told the Supreme Court that activist Gautam Navlakha needs to make a payment of Rs 1.64 crore regarding expenses for making available police personnel for his security during house arrest. Navlakha’s lawyer did not agree with NIA’s claims and termed it ''extortion''.
Raju had told the court that the 70-year-old activist has paid merely Rs 10 Lakh so far towards the expenses incurred for the security, and he stressed that Navlakha must pay some more amount. Navlakha has been under house arrest at a public library in Mumbai since November 2022.
In December last year, the Bombay High Court had granted bail to Navlakha but stayed its order for three weeks after the NIA sought time to file an appeal before the apex court. Earlier, the apex court had said that keeping Navlakha under house arrest further will set a ''wrong precedent''.
The apex court, in November 2022, while ordering his house arrest had directed him to deposit Rs 2.4 lakh towards the expenses to be borne by the state for deploying police personnel regarding his house arrest. Later, the court again directed him to deposit another Rs 8 lakh as expenses.
Navlakha was arrested in August 2018. He is currently residing in Navi Mumbai. Sixteen activists have been arrested in the case and five of them are currently out on bail.
Read more
'Extortion’: Gautam Navlakha's Counsel On NIA Claims Of Rs 1.64 Crore Dues For House Arrest
