Elgar Parishad case: Supreme Court grants bail to Gautam Navlakha

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.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted regular bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in a case related to Maoists link arising out of the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence.

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 (NIA) for expenses of his house arrest.

The court modified the previous order for the house arrest.

The court noted that Navlakha 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".

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 him but had stayed the order on the NIA's request to file an appeal before the Supreme Court. The top court has since then extended the stay order till date.