SC reserves order on Gautam Navlakha’s bail plea

The Supreme Court Friday reserved its order on a petition filed by activist Gautam Navlakha challenging a Bombay High Court order rejecting his plea for statutory bail in the Bhima Koreagon violence case.

The HC, which had rejected his plea on February 8, had said “it sees no reason to interfere with a special court’s order which earlier rejected his bail plea”. It was referring to a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court’s July 12, 2020 ruling that rejected his default bail plea. Navlakha subsequently moved the apex court on February 19.

A three judge bench comprising Justices U U Lalit, Indira Banerjee and K M Joseph, which is hearing the matter, had issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the plea earlier this month.

Navlakha, 69, is lodged at Taloja Central jail. He has been seeking statutory bail under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) on the ground that the NIA did not file the chargesheet within the stipulated 90-day period, making him entitled for grant of default bail.

The NIA, however, claimed that the period of 34 days of Navlakha’s house arrest between August 29 and October 1, 2018, was termed “illegal”by the Delhi High Court and hence could not be included in the period of detention.