The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice KM Joseph today said due to the absence of the Additional Solicitor General SV Raju for the hearing,the interim order allowing the house arrest of Navlakha shall continue.
Navlakha was represented by Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, who informed the bench that Navlakha’s daughter lives abroad and sought permission if he can receive a call from her.
The house arrest of Navlakha was extended by the bench only till today.
On November 10, the Supreme Court had given assent to the plea by Navlakha to be shift him from jail to house arrest for a month.
Navlakha, who is a former Secretary of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights, was arrested in August 2018, but was initially placed under house arrest.
Later on, after a order from the Supreme Court he was moved to Taloja Central Prison in Maharashtra in April 2020.
Gautam Navlakha after relying upon the judgement of Supreme Court moved to the High Court saying that he was being denied of basic medical aid and other necessities in Taloja and was suffering great hardships at his advanced age.
The plea was however rejected by the Bombay High Court,prompting the present appeal before apex court.
Navlakha was given house arrest instead of jail by the top court with various safeguards in place.
Navlakha had moved the top court challenging the April 26 order of the Bombay High Court which had dismissed his plea for house arrest over apprehensions of lack of adequate medical and other basic facilities in Taloja jail near Mumbai where he is currently lodged.
The High Court had said Navlakha’s apprehensions about the lack of medical aid and inadequate basic facilities at the Taloja prison, were “ill-founded”.
Navlakha, one of the several civil liberties activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been booked under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for an alleged conspiracy to topple the government.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted bail to 82-year-old activist P Varavara Rao in the case.