On Monday, August 29, the Supreme Court was set to hear the plea filed by activist Gautam Navlakha where he sought to be placed under house arrest instead of his current lodgings at the Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai. Navlakha ahad cited lack of basic medical necessities as the reason for seeking transfer, reported Live Law.
However, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, who was on the bench with Chief Justice UU Lalit, recused himself from hearing the matter. CJI Lalit placed the matter before Justice KM Joseph instead, and reportedly said, “Justice Bhat cannot hear (this appeal). This case is not to be listed before a bench with Justice Bhat. List before me on administrative side. This case was listed before me and Justice KM Joseph last. We will have this case listed before a bench with Justice Joseph.”
In April 2022, the Bombay High Court had dismissed Navlakha’s plea requesting that he be kept under house arrest pending trial in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. Instead, the division bench comprising Justices Sunil B Shukre and Govinda A Sanap had directed the Superintendent of Taloja Central Jail to ensure medical facilities are provided to the petitioner.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had submitted a list of seventeen draft (proposed) charges against the 15 accused, including the serious charge of waging a war against the country, which is punishable with death or imprisonment for life (section 121 of the Indian Penal Code) before the court. The 15 accused are- Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Hany Babu, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap and Sagar Gorkhe.
The NIA charges claim that the accused persons are members of a banned organisation, CPI (Maoist), whose main objective is to establish a Janta Sarkar i.e., people’s Government via a revolution supported by a commitment to protracted armed struggle to undermine and to seize power from the State.
Related:
Bombay HC dismisses Gautam Navlakha’s plea seeking house arrest
Bhima Koregaon case: Bombay HC denies bail to the three accused