Bhima-Koregaon case: Mumbai Court rejects accused Navlakha’s bail plea again after rehearing

After rehearing the bail plea of activist and writer Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, a special court has once again rejected it. The trial court had conducted a rehearing on the directions of the Bombay High Court that set aside its order of Sep last year and observed that it was “cryptic” and directed a reasoned order.

A detailed order is yet to be available. The HC had directed on March 2 that the bail application be heard expeditiously and decided within four weeks of its order. Accordingly, arguments were heard again and the special court under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act again rejected the writer’s plea for release on bail.

What Navlakha claimed in his bail plea

Claiming bail, Navlakha in a plea had told the court that is a peace activist and his views, as have been evident from his articles written before his arrest, show he is against violence, espoused by Maoists. He said he has been critical of Maoists in his writings and that charges pressed against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) are not made out.

The NIA had opposed relief to him and argued citing the seizures of literature and electronic evidence, that these were material for internal circulation among the core members of the banned terrorist organization CPI(Maoist). It pointed out that there are various articles and booklets authored by Navlakha himself and submitted that he is a member of the banned terrorist organization CPI (Maoist).

One of the allegations against Navlakha, among other allegations, is that, being its member, he was involved in recruiting cadres in urban areas for the banned organization.