Delhi HC irked that arrest memo of Navlakha was not translated from Marathi; how can the person know why he is being held?
At the Delhi High Court in the case of the arrest of the activist Gautam Navlakha the court was irked that there was no translation of the arrest memo, which is in Marathi. The court asked this when it was informed that there were translations in Hindi of the FIR, the Remand application and Remand Order.
In resonance with the Supreme Court order of house arrest of all five arrested, this court also orders house arrest and stayed the transit remand order.
The bench asked why it was translated and asked how was the person arrested to know from this why he was being arrested if he can’t read the arrest memo.
The court said that this was a senior matter and since this is under the new terror law UAPA Act the release of the person arrested under this will be very difficult. Hence it has to be very careful.
The court pointed out to the practical aspect of the whole matter. Whatever is written even numerals, in Marathi. How are the grounds of arrest communicated? These are not exception of CrPC.
All documents are to be translated. All these raises a further question. Between 2:30 and 3:30 pm you read all these to CMM. Can he understand Marathi?
The bench was surprised that there was no case diary to be called for by the Magistrate. We only go on what Magistrate supposed to do or not, the bench said. The bench said that the FIR does not reveal anything against this person, Gautam Navlakha.
While respondents, the state of Maharashtra said that the case diary contains credible information, the bench said “but you yourself said that it was not produced before the Magistrate. Your officer has told us that case diary wasn’t seen by the Magistrate.
“We only say that this transit Remand not justified. We only focus on the validity of the arrest, said the court.
The court said that in view of the SC order, “It would not be appropriate for this court to pass orders in this matter.” The court listed the matter for tomorrow by which time the SC orders be available to court.
– India Legal Bureau