Special court rejects Gautam Navlakha's bail plea in Bhima Koregaon case

A special court has rejected the bail plea of Gautam Navlakha, an activist and writer accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, after conducting a rehearing. The Bombay High Court had directed the trial court to conduct a rehearing and provide a detailed order, as it had previously issued a "cryptic" order in September of last year. Despite the new hearing, Navlakha's bail plea was denied once again.

A comprehensive order regarding the bail plea is currently unavailable. The High Court had instructed on March 2nd that the bail application should be heard quickly and decided upon within four weeks of its order. The special court, operating under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, adhered to this directive by conducting another hearing of the case, but ultimately rejected the writer's request for bail.

Gautam Navlakha, who is accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, had filed a plea seeking bail. In his plea, he claimed to be a peace activist, and pointed to his written articles prior to his arrest which demonstrate his opposition to the violent actions carried out by Maoists. He further argued that his writings have been critical of Maoists and that the charges against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) are baseless.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) opposed granting bail to Gautam Navlakha, citing the discovery of literature and electronic evidence that appeared to be intended for internal distribution within the core members of the banned terrorist organization CPI(Maoist). The agency highlighted the existence of several articles and booklets authored by Navlakha himself, and argued that he is a member of the banned terrorist organization CPI (Maoist).

One of the accusations leveled against Navlakha, alongside others, is that he was involved in the recruitment of members in urban areas for the banned organization, indicating that he was a member of the organization himself.