BREAKING| 'Trial Will Take Years & Years': Supreme Court Grants Bail To Gautam Navlakha In Bhima-Koregaon Case

The Bench of Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti observed, "Leave Granted. The charges are not framed...numerous witnesses running upto 370...co-accused(s) has been granted bail...Respondent submitted that some of the co-accused have not been granted bail...appellant has been incarcerated for four years...the appellant has been under house arrest...the High Court has passed a detailed order. The trial will take years and years...we direct the Appellant to pay twenty lakhs. This amount will have to be paid as a pre-condition for bail. The Appellant shall cooperate with the trial court."

ASG SV Raju appeared on behalf of NIA and submitted, "Before my ld. friend begins...a huge amount of one crore seventy five lakhs is due and payable towards the cost of deploying policeman round the clock."

Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan appearing for Navlakha submitted that he is 75 years old and suffering from various health issues. 

The Court said, "We will hear both the matters together...we will do one thing, we are not extending interim order...atleast, this problem of mounting amount will not be there...all co-accused have been granted bail."

The SLP was filed against the judgment by which the High Court of Bombay rejected the prayer of Gautam Navlakha, the petitioner who is lodged in Taloja Jail, to place him under house arrest in the Bhima-Koregaon Case. The Supreme Court by an interim order passed on November 10, 2022, had placed Navlakha under house arrest.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had told the Supreme Court that Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Bhima-Koregaon Case, owes an amount of Rupees One Crore and Sixty Four Lakhs to the state towards expenses of his house arrest. The NIA also told the Court that citizens are not entitled to house arrest.

The Supreme Court had on an earlier date directed the Superintendent, Taloja Central Prison, Navi Mumbai to take the petitioner immediately to the Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai (the hospital of the choice of the petitioner) so that the petitioner is enabled to undergo all the requisite medical check-up and receive treatment.

The Supreme Court in September 2023 had  expressed its reservations on the earlier order passed by a two-judge bench of the Court, directing to put Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha under house arrest owing to his deteriorating health condition. The Bench was of the opinion that the earlier order may have set a "wrong precedent".

The Supreme Court in April 2023 had directed Gautam Navlakha to deposit Rs 8 lakh as an expense for making available police personnel for his security during house arrest. While ordering his house arrest on 10 November 2022, the Apex Court had initially directed Navlakha to deposit Rs 2.4 lakh as the expenses to be borne by the state for making available police personnel to effectively facilitate placing the petitioner under house arrest.

In April, 2023, he had also filed a plea requesting to change his address for house arrest.

The Petitioner is one of the Accused in the National Investigating Agency Special Case. He and the other 14 accused have been prosecuted for the commission of the offences under Sections 153(A), 505(1)(B), 117, 120-B, 121, 121-A, 124-A and Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 18(B), 20, 38, 39 and 40 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (for short, UAPA). The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which police claim triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the city.

Cause Title: Gautam Navlakha Vs. National Investigation Agency & Anr. (SLP(Crl) No. 9216/2022) and National Investigation Agency v. Gautam Navlakha (SLP(Crl) No. 167/2024)