'What restrictions be imposed on Navlakha if placed in house arrest'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the NIA to inform it about the kind of restrictions it wanted for activist Gautam Navlakha, who is incarcerated in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case, if he is placed under house arrest.

The top court asked Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the NIA, to seek instructions and inform it.

A bench of justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy said it will pass the order Thursday after hearing the ASG.

"He is a 70-year-old man. We don't know how long he will live. Certainly, he is going towards the inevitable. It's not that we are going to release him on bail. He is not going to enjoy the default bail which comrade Sudha (Bharadwaj) got... We are conscious that we have to tread carefully. We agree that house arrest as an alternative has to be used carefully...

"We are concerned about what restriction would you like to place. Place whatever restrictions. It's not that he is going to destroy the country... At least let him remain in house arrest for a few days. Let's try to work it out," the bench said.

At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Navlakha, said the medical reports show that there's no possibility of him being treated in jail.

"There's no way in the world you can get this kind of treatment/monitoring done in jail. He's had alarming weight loss. This kind of treatment is not possible in jail," Sibal said.