Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
Frontline / by Majid Maqbool
From his early days with EPW to years in prison, the journalist shows how books sustain dissent, nourish freedom, and open a world beyond captivity.
Writer, journalist, and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha has had a decades-long career spanning journalism to activism. All along, through his writings and rights activism, he has always been committed to democratic rights and social justice for all. He has always stood by, spoken out and written in defence of the marginalised communities whose voices he has sought to amplify throughout his career. Read more
Bail ! Gautam with his partner Sabha Husain. May 2024.
Mumbai court denies Elgar Parishad case accused’s plea to visit Delhi
07/08/2025
India Today / by Vidya
Advocate Wahab Khan, argued that Gautam Navlakha had complied with all previous court conditions when earlier permitted to travel and that his request was genuine, time-bound.
A Special NIA Court in Mumbai has dismissed activist Gautam Navlakha’s application seeking permission to travel to Delhi for 45 days, sharply criticising the repeated nature of such requests and calling it a “deliberate attempt to circumvent judicial restrictions”. Read more
NIA court rejects Gautam Navlakha’s plea to stay in Delhi, slams repeated applications
06/08/2025
Times of India / by Rebecca Samervel
In a scathing order rejecting the plea of 73-year-old activist, lawyer and 2018 Elgar Parishad accused Gautam Navlakha to travel and stay in Delhi for 45 days for personal and professional reasons, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge criticised him for what it termed as “ingeniously” moving “application after application” to reside in the national capital, despite a previous plea for permanent residency being denied. Read more
Can’t give nod ‘every now and then’: Court rejects Navlakha’s plea to travel to Delhi
05/08/2025
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
In the latest plea, he submitted that he wants to travel as his sister cannot come to Mumbai due to her health condition.
A special court rejected a plea filed by activist Gautam Navlakha, arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case, to stay in Delhi for 45 days to visit his 86-year-old sister and for other purposes.
In his plea, Navlakha sought permission to stay in Delhi from July 15 to August 30, citing that he had been similarly permitted in November 2024 and had abided with all conditions. Read more
Special NIA Court Dismisses Gautam Navlakha’s Plea To Reside In Delhi
20/06/2025
Live Law / by Narsi Benwal
A special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday (June 19) rejected an application filed by human rights’ activist Gautam Navlakha, who sought permission of the court to leave Mumbai and reside in Delhi permanently till the culmination of the trial in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case. Special Judge Chakor Baviskar said traveling beyond the jurisdiction of the Court is one thing and residing permanently beyond the jurisdiction of the Court, is all together different thing. Read more [Read order]
Bhima Koregaon case: Court rejects activist Gautam Navlakha’s plea to live in Delhi
20/06/2025
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The 70-year-old activist was granted bail in May 2024, but was directed to reside in Mumbai.
A Mumbai court on Thursday rejected human rights activist Gautam Navlakha’s petition seeking permission to live in Delhi during the pendency of his trial in the Bhima Koregaon case, reported Live Law. Read more
Mumbai court rejects plea by Gautam Navlakha to relocate to Delhi
20/06/2025
Bar & Bench / by Sahyaja MS
Navlakha had filed an application requesting relief from the condition that restricts him from leaving the jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court.
A special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected a plea by activist and accused in Bhima Koregaon violence, Gautam Navlakha, seeking permission to permanently relocate to Delhi. [Gautam Navlakha v National Investigation Agency] Read more [Read order]
Court rejects journalist Gautam Navlakha’s plea, says he can’t permanently stay in Delhi
20/06/2025
The Times of India / by Rebecca Samervel
Observing that “permanently residing outside the court’s jurisdiction is a completely separate matter from merely travelling beyond it”, a special NIA court on Thursday rejected a plea by journalist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, seeking permission to permanently reside in Delhi.
Citing financial strain, unemployment, and an ailing 86-year-old sister, Navlakha moved the plea in April. “Since HC has not granted such liberty either to the accused or to this court as well, this unnecessary application deserves to be rejected,” the judge said. Read more
Court rejects Navlakha’s plea for nod to reside in Delhi during pendency of case
19/06/2024
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Elgaar Parishad accused had cited expenses in Mumbai
A special court on Thursday rejected a plea filed by journalist-activist Gautam Navlakha, booked in the Elgaar Parishad case, seeking permission to reside in New Delhi during the pendency of the case.
Navlakha was directed not to leave the jurisdiction of the Mumbai court without permission, as part of his bail conditions set by the Bombay High Court. Read more
To mark six years of the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents in the Bhima Koregaon case, The Polis Project is publishing a series of writings by the BK-16, and their families, friends and partners. By describing various aspects of the past six years, the series offers a glimpse into the BK-16’s lives inside prison, as well as the struggles of their loved ones outside. Each piece in the series is complemented by Arun Ferreira’s striking and evocative artwork.
Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
BK-16 Prison Diaries: The ‘ordinary’ in extraordinary times: A captive’s life in Covid-19
14/05/2025
The Polis Project / by Gautam Navlakha
My journey as a captive began in extraordinary circumstances. The Covid-19 pandemic had afflicted the world and, in India, a countrywide lockdown was imposed on March 24, 2020. Travel by rail, road or air was suspended. A climate of fear and uncertainty prevailed. However, the Supreme Court had asked Anand Teltumbde and me to surrender before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) by April 14—incidentally, Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. Anand presented himself before the NIA in Mumbai, while I, a resident of Delhi, surrendered myself at the NIA headquarters in New Delhi. Read more
Bail ! Gautam with his partner Sabha Husain. May 2024.
Navlakha files plea to shift to Delhi, says living in Mumbai is ‘burdensome’
29/04/2025
Hindustan Times / by Revu Suresh
Gautam Navlakha seeks NIA court’s permission to live permanently in Delhi, citing financial struggles in Mumbai post-bail in Bhima Koregaon case.
Gautam Navlakha, a civil rights activist arrested in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case, has moved the special NIA court, seeking permission to permanently reside in Delhi. In his plea, Navlakha said it has become uneconomical and burdensome for him to live in Mumbai as he is a permanent resident of Delhi. Read more
Navlakha files application in court seeking permission to stay in Delhi
29/04/2025
The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak
In an application filed before the special court in Mumbai, 72-year-old Navlakha has sought relaxation in one of his bail conditions
Citing expenses and increasing finances in Mumbai, activist-journalist Gautam Navlakha, who was granted bail in the Elgar Parishad case in May 2024, has sought permission to reside in Delhi. In an application filed before the special court in Mumbai, 72-year-old Navlakha has sought relaxation in one of his bail conditions, which directed him to not leave the jurisdiction of the Mumbai court without the court’s permission. Read more
Accused raise high cost of living, difficulty in finding jobs and houses on rent to restart life
While the bar for granting bail itself is high in stringent anti-terror laws, for several accused released on bail by Mumbai courts, the real ordeal begins after being granted bail- to find a local address to live in the city.
Just last week, Bombay High Court, while granting bail to Elgaar Parishad accused Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale, directed them not to leave the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court without permission. While Dhawale is a resident of Mumbai, Wilson, whose originally from Kerala, resided in New Delhi before his arrest in 2018. Read more
On Thursday, the special NIA court allowed activist Gautam Navlakha, who is implicated in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to go to Delhi for two months to care for his unwell elder sister.
Navlakha had approached the court for modification of the bail order granted last year, which restricted his movement to city limits. Read more
Although the couple have a home in Delhi, 72-year-old Navlakha’s bail conditions prevent him from leaving Mumbai.
Ever since he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Elgaar Parishad case in May, Delhi-based journalist-activist Gautam Navlakha and his author-partner Sahba Husain have been struggling to rent a home in Mumbai. Read more
Bail has been reduced to a judicial lottery with different judges and benches of the court taking inconsistent stances on similar issues.
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On July 11, the Supreme Court castigated the Delhi High Court for staying a regular bail order in separate case for over a year when it has itself stayed the order granting bail to Dalit activist Mahesh Raut in the Bhima Koregaon case for more than nine months now. Read more
Casual and mechanical staying of bail Orders disastrous for human liberty, says SC
13/07/2024
The Leaflet / by The Leaflet
In a significant development, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih has said it will lay down parameters on the stay of bail-granting Orders.
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The Supreme Court itself has been guilty of staying bail Orders without reason. For instance, Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha was granted regular bail by the Bombay High Court Bench on December 19, 2023, after observing that it could not be said, based on the material produced by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), that there exist reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against Navlakha was prima facie true to attract Sections 16, 18, 20 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Read more
Sahba Husain relinquished her freedom to spend nearly two years in house arrest in a makeshift room with her partner of 30 years.
What makes a 71-year-old woman relinquish her freedom, in the city that has been home for 54 years, and voluntarily move into confinement?
“One date can overturn your life,” Sahba Husain chuckles over a phone call with me. For her, that date is August 28, 2018, when the house she shared with her partner Gautam Navlakha in Delhi was raided. Read more
