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Synopsis

A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice AS Gadkari and Justice PD Naik on Thursday quashed the bail order of Special NIA court and remanded back the bail plea filed by Bhima Koregaon violence case accused Gautam Navlakha to the Special NIA Court while directing the special court to decide the bail plea afresh within 4 weeks.

"ASG fairly conceded that the bail application be remanded to the trial court. In view of the observation made by us, present bail application requires remand for fresh hearing. Accordingly order dated September 5 is set aside and bail application is restored to file. The special judge is requested to conclude within 4 weeks without being influence of impugned order and this order" court ordered.

The direction of deciding the bail plea within 4 weeks was passed after Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry said that Navlakha is of 70 years of age and if the plea is remanded back after 3 years it will cause hardship.

The court, in its order, recorded that prima facie it appeared that the Supreme Courts Order in Watali's case was not considered while deciding the bail application, further, no reasons were given by the trial court as required under the Act.

"Trial court has not given reasons required under Section 43D(5) while rejecting the bail application of appellant It appears that the order of Supreme Court's in Watali's case has not been considered while rejecting the bail application. Reasoning stated in the order is very cryptic and there is no analysis of evidence relied by the prosecution in it," Court stated.

During the earlier hearing, Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhary had argued,

"Allegations against me is that I have a connection with Maoist leader. That is correct because I have conducted interviews and published them. Consider if a journalist wants to interview Dawood Ibrahim and goes to Pakistan on a valid visa then would MCOCA be attracted?"

He had submitted that to conduct an interview one has to contact them but it does not reflect syndicate crime. 

Further, he had relied on the document which was found on Navlakha's computer that was included in the charge sheet. He had informed the court that it was actually a critique of Maoist practice, violence, and philosophy. 

He had further relied on a book written by Gautam Navlakha and said,

"When you read the passages he is talking about the massacre conducted by Maoists and criticizing it and asking who is authorizing it. Can it be said he is indulging in violence? He is pointing to three acts of Maoist and asking who is authorizing them. I could point to a large number of articles written by him where he is criticizing Maoist but those are not part of the chargesheet."

Gautam Navlakha was arrested with the other accused in the Bhima Koregaon Violence case of 2018 after which he was kept in Taloja Jail. In April last year, the Bombay High Court dismissed the plea moved by Navlakha, seeking direction to be placed under house arrest till the completion of the trial. Navlakha had demanded transfer from Taloja Prison on grounds of his advanced age and medical ailments. 

Recently in 2022 November, the Supreme Court allowed his plea to shift to house arrest. Navlkha had approached the high court after a Special NIA Court rejected his bail plea in September 2022.