NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted regular bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in a case related to Maoists link unearthed after the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence, after noting that the trial could take years to complete in view of large number of witnesses.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and S V N Bhatti allowed the bail to the human rights activist on payment of Rs 20 lakh to the National Investigation Agency for expenses of his house arrest.
"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 said.
The court modified the previous order for the house arrest.
The court noted that Navalakh has been incarcerated for four years and he was over 72 years of age. The charges have yet not been framed, the trial would take years to complete as more than 370 witnesses were to be examined.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju opposed the Navlakha's release alleging, "He is anti-national, he was asking for separation of Kashmir from India".
On March 7, the NIA had told the court that 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''.
On Tuesday, the court said it would not extend the stay on bail granted to him by the Bombay High Court.
On November 10, 2022, a top court's bench led by Justice K M Joseph (since retired) had allowed activist Gautam Navlakha to be placed under house arrest after considering deteriorating health of the 70-year-old person.
Earlier, the court had asked Navlakha that he should pay Rs 1.64 crore to the NIA due towards the security provided to him during his house arrest.
In December, 2023, the Bombay High Court had granted bail to the him but had stayed the order on the NIA's request to file an appeal before the Supreme Court.
Navlakha was arrested on April 14, 2020.
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