Elgar case: HC reserves order on Navlakha's default bail plea

Mumbai: Jailed activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon-Bhima case who has sought default bail, on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that the period he spent in house arrest must be considered as time spent in custody.

The HC reserved its verdict on a plea filed by Navlakha seeking statutory or default bail in the case.

Navlakha's lawyer Kapil Sibal and the counsel of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the prosecuting agency in the case, made oral arguments over the petition before a bench of Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik.

Navlakha approached the HC earlier this year challenging a special court order of July 12 that rejected his plea for statutory bail.

The activist had sought default bail before the special court on the ground that he has been in custody for over 90 days, but the prosecution had failed to file a charge-sheet in the case within this stipulated period. However, the NIA had argued that his plea was not maintainable.

The central agency had also sought an extension of time for filing the charge-sheet.

The special court had at the time accepted the NIA's plea seeking extension of 90 to 180 days to file the charge- sheet against Navlakha and his co-accused, activist Anand Teltumbde.

On Wednesday, Sibal told HC that at the time the NIA was granted the extension to file its charge-sheet, Navlakha had already spent 93 days in custody.

This included 34 days of house arrest, Sibal said.

The senior lawyer said the issue before the HC now was whether or not this period of house arrest could be considered as days spent in custody.

Sibal added that the HC must count the period of house arrest as time spent in custody since it had come after the the Pune police, which initially handled the case, had arrested his client. Also, while Navlakha was under house arrest, his personal liberties remained curtailed, he told the HC.

"If the 34 days are counted, the NIA's application is beyond 90 days and their application is not maintainable. So, he (Navlakha) is entitled to default bail," Sibal said. agencies