R. Balaji
Published 11.11.22, 03:15 AM
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Investigation Agency to shift 70-year-old Elgaar Parishad accused Gautam Navlakha to “house arrest” within 48 hours from the Taloja jail on Mumbai’s suburbs, while imposing a string of conditions on the rights activist. A day earlier, the apex court had dismissed the NIA’s contention that Navlakha, who has been in jail for around two years, was a threat to national security and said it would grant him house arrest. Navlakha will be staying in a single-bedroom apartment in Mumbai with a companion. Some of the conditions imposed by the court:
- Navlakha cannot access the Internet or use mobile phones or other electronic gadgets except for a cellphone provided by the police, on which he can talk only for 10 minutes a day and in the presence of police.
- His companion can keep only a basic phone and will not delete any messages or call logs
- Navlakha can watch cableTV and read newspapers and books. He is entitled to his daily walk in the presence of police.
- Navlakha cannot leave Mumbai city during the period of house arrest. Only his sister and daughter can visit him, once a week, for three hours at a time
- CCTV cameras will be installed at the entry and exit at his home. Navlakha has to deposit Rs 2.4 lakh as expenses towards the surveillance, to be refunded if he is acquitted in the case. He also has to deposit Rs 2 lakh as local surety.
- The bench of JusticesK.M. Joseph and HrishikeshRoy said the NIA can keep Navlakha under constant surveillance but cautioned the agency not to use these powers as a “ruse to harass the petitioner”.
- The next hearing is in the second week of December.