The Supreme Court granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case on Tuesday. During the hearing, a bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti declined to extend the stay imposed by the Bombay High Court order on Navlakha's bail in the case. Furthermore, the court directed Navlakha to pay Rs 20 lakh towards expenses for security during his house arrest.
What did the court say?
"We are inclined to not extend the stay as the high court order is detailed in granting bail. The 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," the bench added.
The top court noted that Navlakha has been in jail for over four years and charges are yet to be framed in the case. The Bombay High Court had on December 19 last year granted bail to Navlakha but stayed its order for three weeks after the NIA sought time to file an appeal in the top court.
What was the case?
The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. The police claimed that it triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. Sixteen activists were arrested in the case and five of them are currently out on bail. Navlakha, who was arrested in August 2018, was in November last year permitted by the Supreme Court to be placed under house arrest. He is currently residing in Navi Mumbai. While ordering his house arrest on November 10, 2022, the apex court had directed Navlakha to deposit Rs 2.4 lakh towards the expenses to be borne by the state for deploying police personnel to effectively place him under house arrest.
(With inputs from PTI)
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