The Bombay High Court on 19th December granted bail to Bhima Koregaon violence accused Gautam Navlakha. In its order, the division bench comprising Justicce AS Gadkari and Justice SG Dige noted that Navlakha merely intended to commit the terrorist at and did not attempt the same.
The HC, in its order, stated, “In the present case, the incriminating material as adverted herein above does not in any manner prima facie leads to draw an inference that, Appellant has committed or indulged in a ‘terrorist act’ as contemplated under Section 15 of UAP Act.”
“According to us, the record prima facie indicate that, it was at the most the intention of the Appellant to commit the alleged crime and not more than it. The said intention has not been further transformed into preparation or attempt to commit a terrorist act, to attract Section 15 of the UAP Act.”
The court also stated in its order that Navlakha had not committed any covert or overt terrorist act. “Even though in the said documents, the authors of it have expressed their intention to cause fatality to the politically influential persons or to cause tremendous disturbance in the Society at large, the Appellant only being a member of the party cannot be prima facie held to be a co-conspirator to it. From the material on record, it appears to us that, no covert or overt terrorist act has been attributed to the Appellant,” the order states.
On the letter that Navlakha had written to the Judge of the US court for clemency to Ghulam Fai, the court said that it was not related to the present crime Navlakha is accused of.
The court further noted that it appeared that the letter was written by Navlakha in his individual capacity and at the most, it can be said, in the capacity of his being a party member and nothing more.
The court also referred to the point of the name ‘Gautam’ referred to in documents. The court said that prima facie it cannot be assumed that the ‘Gautam’ is the same person.
“..there is another person by name Gautam @ Kosa @ Gopanna @ Sadha, who is the Central Committee Member of the CPI (M) and therefore it cannot be safely inferred that, it is the Appellant only who has been referred to in those documents.”
“According to us, the identity of the Appellant being the same person ‘Gautam’ is in doubt as far as those documents are concerned. At this stage prima facie we cannot presume that, ‘Gautam’ is the same person as the identity of the said ‘Gautam’ is yet to be established beyond reasonable doubt by the prosecution,” the order states.
The court said that Navlakha is in “pre-trial incarceration for more than three years and eight months”.
The court stated, “The Appellant is in pre-trial incarceration for more than three years and eight months. The charge-sheet consists of about 20,000 pages in 54 Volumes and the prosecution has cited 370 witnesses in it. The learned Judge of the trial Court has submitted a report dated 18th September, 2022 stating that, it will require more than a year to frame charge. As a matter of fact, till date the trial Court has not framed charge. The possibility of trial of the Appellant being concluded in near future is very bleak.”
Bacground
The Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case pertains to an event organised at Shaniwar Wada called Elgar Parishad on December 31, 2017.
The following day, i.e January 1, 2018, large-scale violence broke out at Bhima Koregaon, where lakhs of Dalits had gathered to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon, won by the British Army—comprising mostly soldiers from the Dalit community—against the Peshwas in 1818.
A total of 16 accused were apprehended in the case including Navlakha, who is now the seventh accused to secure bail.
Moreover, Navlakha had reportedly visited the United States thrice in the period between 2010-2011 and written to a US district court judge seeking clemency for Fai, who was arrested by the FBI in 2011 on the charges of accepting funds to the tune of several million from the ISI and the Pakistan government.
