HC reserves verdict in Gautam Navlakha’s plea seeking transfer from jail to house arrest

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and state prison authority, while opposing the plea, stated that sufficient facilities were provided to the accused. It said there were many prisoners who were 70 or above and had comorbidities and if Navlakha’s plea was allowed, there would be a flood of such applications in courts.

Calling it a “security risk”, the Taloja Jail authorities twice refused to hand over a P G Wodehouse novel to Navlakha, his lawyer had told the High Court on Monday. Navlakha only got the book after the trial court’s order, he said. The HC had said this was “really comical” and showed “the attitude of the jail authorities”.

On Tuesday, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh, representing NIA, told a division bench of Justice Sunil B Shukre and Justice Govinda A Sanap that Navlakha’s plea was not before the appropriate forum and was premature as he ought to have approached the Special NIA court, which is seized of or has decided his other bail pleas

“He is indirectly seeking bail under the garb of house arrest…There are practical difficulties in implementing the order, as the house logistics will have to be worked out, including guards, and also the aspect that the person accompanying him may be active on social media,” Singh argued and sought dismissal of the plea.

Additional Public Prosecutor Sangeeta D Shinde, representing state prison authorities, refuted allegations made by Navlakha about denial of facilities in prison. She added that during Covid-19 pandemic, the prison authorities had decided not to accept any parcels to control the spread of coronavirus in prisons. However, the bench referred to the prison authority’s order denying the book to Navlakha and said the cited “security reason” and “Covid-19” restrictions were not specifically mentioned.

The bench questioned prison authority, “Why wasn’t he given the book (written by P G Wodehouse)? Is humor banished from jail?” However, as the state’s counsel responded that Navlakha was given books available in the prison library, the court sought to know about the number and type of books available in the jail library and said that “access to books” was “very important towards reformation of inmates” during incarceration.

The state counsel submitted that the jail library had around 2,800 books. Justice Shukre remarked that even a secondary school would have more books in its library. The bench suggested that the bar associations or the court could do something to address the issue of shortage of books in the prison. The HC will pass its judgement in due course.