New Delhi: The Indian Supreme Court has rejected an application filed by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking that activist Gautam Navlakha’s shifting to house arrest from prison be put on hold.
The court orally warned the probe agency that it will take a serious view of attempts to “find loopholes” to claim the initial order has been defied.
Navlakha has been in Taloja Jail since April 2020. He was first arrested in August 2018 in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, in which the incarceration of 16 prominent activists and scholars has been criticised globally and seen as a symbol of crackdown on dissent.
The Supreme Court on November 10 allowed Navlakha to be placed under house arrest on account of his health, against a payment of Rs 2.4 lakh to cover the expenses of security while under house arrest. The NIA has attempted to raise safety concerns about the premises in Navi Mumbai where he had proposed to live during his house arrest.
Source – https://lipr.org.uk/indian-sc-refuses-nia-plea-against-activist-gautam-navlakhas-house-arrest/
