SC sets aside Delhi High Court order on Gautam Navlakha

New Delhi, July 8: The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the Delhi High Court order asking the National Investigating Agency (NIA) to produce records on the transfer of civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha from Delhi to Mumbai.

Navlakha and another activist, Anand Teltumbde, were charged under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and various sections of the Indian Penal Code, following the violence at Bhima Koregaon village. The case made by the Pune Police accused Navlakha and Teltumbde of Maoist links and was later taken over by the NIA.

Anand Teltumbde surrendered to the police on April 14 at Mumbai.

On June 2, the top court had issued a notice to Navlakha, asking him to respond to the NIA’s Special Leave Petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s order. The bench also took note of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s submission that the High Court’s order to produce records of a trial court was outside of its jurisdiction.

On May 22, the High Court had sought a response from the NIA on a plea filed by 67-year-old Navlakha, who said that his age made him vulnerable to the coronavirus or other infections in a crowded prison. His counsel had said that the agency failed to mention Navlakha’s pending bail plea before he was taken to Mumbai. High Court order questioning the ‘frantic hurry’ with which civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha was shifted out of New Delhi to Mumbai in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.

Senior Congress leader and counsel for Navlakha Kapil Sibal on Monday opposed the submission of Tushar Mehta, according to Live Law. Sibal argued that the SLP was not maintainable against the order of the High Court, which merely asked for records of proceedings.

The Supreme Court said that the Delhi High Court has no jurisdiction to entertain the bail application of Gautam Navlakha in this case. The court also expunged from the record the adverse remarks the Delhi High Court had made about the NIA.

On May 27, the Delhi High Court had criticized the NIA for its “unseemly haste” in moving Navlakha from Tihar jail in Delhi to Taloja jail in Mumbai when his bail application was pending. Navlakha was taken to Mumbai on May 26.