Bombay high court: No Navlakha links to overt or covert terror acts

MUMBAI: No overt or covert terror acts have been attributed to human rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha who is an accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case, said the Bombay high court while granting him bail on Tuesday. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is relying on "hearsay" evidence to link him with the terrorist activities of a proscribed organisation, it added.
The bail order made available on Wednesday said, at best, Navlakha can be described as a member of the banned CPI(M) party.
It also held that he deserved bail on parity as six others in the same case have received similar relief. The order, however, has been stayed for three weeks to allow the NIA to challenge it before the apex court.
Navlakha is chargesheeted under the anti-terror law- the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act - along with 15 others (one has since died) in the case being probed by NIA. No overt terrorist acts are attributed to him under section 15 of UAPA; at best, less serious charges such as under sections 13 (unlawful activities) and 38 (membership of a terrorist organisation) may apply, said the HC.
There is nothing on record in prosecution documents to indicate that reasonable grounds exist to believe that allegations against Navlakha under sections 16 (for a terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for a terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy) and 39 (support given to a terrorist organisation) are prima facie true, said the HC division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and S G Dige.
The HC also took the lengthy legal process into account, saying framing of charges by the special NIA trial court in Mumbai - a last pre-trial step - will take more than a year. "The possibility of trial of the appellant being concluded in near future is very bleak," the court added.
Navlakha has remained incarcerated for three years and eight months since April 2020. The trial will be based on a chargesheet submitted by the NIA consisting of nearly 20,000 pages citing 370 witnesses.
Navlakha has been under house arrest in Navi Mumbai since last November after the SC accepted his plea for bail citing health reasons. Additional solicitor general Devang Vyas, arguing for NIA in HC, had said, "the larger conspiracy to overthrow a democratically elected government behind the commission of present crime has to be taken into consideration" while looking at Navlakha's role.
The NIA cited a letter by a co-accused, poet and writer P Varavara Rao, asking CPI(M) colleagues to "survey" places "where public meetings of politically influential persons were to be conducted." The prosecution said Rao used the word "enemies" while referring to law enforcing agencies or persons representing the elected government. NIA said his directions were essentially to "target politically influential persons."
However, the HC judgment said NIA was relying on "hearsay" evidence in the form of documents and communications recovered from co-accused where Navlakha's name is mentioned to establish his association with activities of a designated terror organisation. "The actual involvement of (Navlakha) in any terrorist act can't be even inferred from any of the communications or (witness) statements," said the HC bench.