The Bombay High Court on Monday extended protection from arrest of activist Gautam Navlakha till April 26, 2019 in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre was hearing a plea filed by Mr. Navlakha urging the court to quash the FIR registered against him by Pune police. Advocate Yug Chaudhary appearing for Mr. Navlakha told the court that the Delhi High Court had quashed the arrest, but the Maharashtra government filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against it. However, another Bench at the Bombay HC stayed the arrest and it remains quashed as of now.
He went on to list the credentials of Mr. Navlakha and said that he has written books on conflict zones and has written for esteemed publications on extremists and naxalites. He mentioned that Mr. Navlakha has written for Economic Political Weekly and is a member of the Peoples Union for Democratic Rights.
Mr. Chaudhary also said that Mr. Navlakha was always chosen by the government and the naxals as a “mediator” to communicate with each other. But now he is being attacked by both sides (government and Naxal organisations) as they think he is being biased towards the other.
The advocate said, “He is a peace activist, how can this attract provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.” The matter has been adjourned for final hearing on April 26.