Mumbai: Activist and former journalist Gautam Navlakha, who spent three years in custody in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case and is currently under house arrest, has sought regular bail from the Bombay High Court contending that he has no connection with the Maoist and is falsely implicated in the case.
Navlakha surrendered on April 14, 2020, to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Delhi after his pre-arrest bail was rejected. He was put under house arrest following the order of the Supreme Court.
He has published articles critical of Maoist violence: Navlakha's Adv
Navlakha’s advocate Yug Chaudhary pointed out that he has published articles critical of Maoist violence. For this purpose, he may have been in touch with the senior Maoist leadership, said Chaudhary, clarifying that the context of the same is important. He showed an article written by Navlakha for the EPW titled 'Days and Nights in the Maoist Heartland'.
He further argued that Navlakha was also a signatory to a letter condemning the Maoists for blowing up a rail track.
Also, there is a document where they (Maoist) call Navlakha a “government agent”, said Chaudhary.
On a court query on where this document was seized from, Chaudhary said it was seized from the computer of co-accused Rona Wilson and produced in the charge sheet.
He said that the Maoists alleged that Navlakha went to Kashmir and helped his partner in counter-insurgency. “To change the narrative from asking for AZADI to spreading the message of peace,” said Chaudhary. He further read from the document which said that Navlakha's partner Sabah, former daughter-in-law of MF Hussain, was running several NGOs in Kashmir with the blessings of the Home Ministry.
Chaudhary said: “One thing is clear, he's definitely not a member of the Maoists. At least they don't believe he is.”
Reading further from the document, Chaudhary said that Navlakha organised a huge conference in Hyderabad for Vinayak Sen titled “To condemn all forms of violence,” but Sen couldn't attend as he was in prison.
Judge: Document indicated that even Maoists were upset with him, but..
Justice Gadkari said this document indicated that even the Maoists were upset with him, but it could also have been prepared to support him.
However, Chaudhary said if this document was prepared fearing an impending raid, he would not keep it alongside documents that incriminate him heavily. “None of the incriminating documents would be seized then. Also, this line of thought would apply to even the seized document,” contended Chaudhary.
Last week, the National Investigation Agency filed an affidavit claiming that Navlakha had connections with a Pakistani ISI agent, Ghulam Nabi Fai, arrested in the US.
The investigating agency has also claimed that Navlakha had “committed acts that had a direct impact on the national security, unity and sovereignty.” It claimed that he visited the United States thrice to speak at the Kashmiri American Council Conference organised by Ghulam Nabi Fai with whom Navlakha was in touch regularly.
A division bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and P D Naik will continue hearing his bail plea on Tuesday.
