Supreme Cort to hear activist Navlakha's plea for shifting out from Mumbai public library under house arrest

The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Monday a plea of activist Gautam Navlakha, who is under house arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, that he be shifted from a public library in Mumbai to some other place.

The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Monday a plea of activist Gautam Navlakha, who is under house arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, that he be shifted from a public library in Mumbai to some other place.

A Bench of Justices K. M. Joseph and B. V. Nagarathna had on April 28 directed the CBI to file its reply within two weeks on Navlaka’s petition seeking to be shifted from the public library to some other place in the city as the facility needs to be vacated.

Besides, the Supreme Court also directed Navlakha to deposit another ₹8 lakh toward expenses for making available police personnel for his security.

While ordering his house arrest on November 10 last year, the Supreme Court had initially directed Navlakha to deposit ₹2.4 lakh as the expenses to be borne by the state for making available police personnel to effectively facilitate placing him under house arrest.

The direction on paying money was passed after Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju submitted that a total bill of ₹66 lakh was pending.

On November 10, 2022, the Supreme Court had allowed Navlakha, who was then lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison in connection with the case, to be placed under house arrest owing to his deteriorating health.

Noting that the activist has been in custody since April 14, 2020, and prima facie there is no reason to reject his medical report, it had said Navlakha does not have any criminal background except for this case and even the government of India had appointed him as an interlocutor to hold talks with Maoists.