The Supreme Court has put off the condition of obtaining a solvency certificate for availing the benefit of house arrest in case of activist Gautam Navlakha, who is lodged in a Mumbai prison in the Bhima Koregaon case.
The Court had last week finally allowed Navlakha’s request to be placed under house arrest in consideration of his medical condition.
However, the Court had imposed several conditions, including the requirement to furnish surety of Rs 2 lakh.
A bench comprising Justice K M Joseph and Justice Hrishikesh Roy were told by Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan and Advocate Shadan Farasat that it will take a minimum of six weeks for them to secure solvency certificate in respect of surety to be provided.
The Court said that with due consideration and the circumstances, it found it right to waive the requirement of a solvency certificate for the petitioner (Navlakha) to avail the benefit of the order dated November 10, 2022.
The Court also made it very clear that since security proof such as passport, Aadhaar card and Permanent Account Number (PAN) card have been submitted in the Court, the trial court should not insist on ration card as an additional proof of identity for the Apex Court’s order to take effect.
The Supreme Court on Thursday had permitted 73-year-old human rights activist Gautam Navlakha to be transferred from Taloja Prison, where he is currently lodged, to house arrest for one month, on medical grounds.
The Apex Court directed the National Investigation Agency to evaluate premises where he will be placed within 48 hours from today.
Navlakha has been told not to use mobile phone, internet, laptop or any other communicating device. He was permitted to use a mobile phone provided by the police for 10 minutes in a day in presence of police personnel. Only his sister and daughter were allowed to visit him once a week for three hours.
The top court asked Navlakha to deposit Rs 2.4 lakh for expenses incurred by the state in providing police security.