The first week in the new year repeats the same old story of procedural grind
06/01/2024
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
The stay on Gautam Navlakha’s bail Order has been extended by the Supreme Court. Ten of the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case continue to be incarcerated.
This week, the Supreme Court granted an extension to the stay on the bail granted by the Bombay High Court to journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha. Read more
Supreme Court Extends Bombay HC’s Stay On Bail Granted To Gautam Navlakha In Bhima Koregaon Case
05/01/2024
Live Law / by Debby Jain
In the National Investigation Agency’s petition challenging the grant of bail to journalist Gautam P Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case over alleged Maoist links, the Supreme Court today extended the stay granted by the Bombay High Court on the order granting bail.
A Division Bench of Justices MM and SVN Bhatti ordered for the matter to be listed before the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, to take a call on listing of the same with other connected petitions filed by co-accused, or for clubbing of all the matters to enable hearing by a single Bench. Read more
SC extends stay imposed by Bombay HC on order granting bail to Gautam Navlakha
05/01/2024
The Telegraph / by pti
Navlakha, who was arrested in August 2018, was in November 2023 permitted by the Supreme Court to be placed under house arrest
The Supreme Court on Friday extended the stay imposed by the Bombay High Court on the operation of its order granting bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. Read more
Many of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case have now spent one more year incarcerated without a trial. A far cry from the verbiage of high judicial officials that even a day’s denial of liberty is too much.
… Here is a recap of the major developments in the case this year, of bail applications granted, stayed and pending; the consistent pleas for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to comply with the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973; and the courts heeding to medical conditions-related pleas of the accused. Read more
Delhi police special cell questions Gautam Navlakha in NewsClick case
‘NewsClick’ case: Gautam Navlakha questioned by Delhi Police
31/12/2023
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The activist and is a shareholder of PPK NewsClick Studio Private Limited since 2018, according to the first information report in the case.
Activist Gautam Navlakha was on Saturday questioned by the Delhi Police in connection with a case against news website NewsClick filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, reported PTI. Read more
Delhi police special cell questions Gautam Navlakha in NewsClick case
31/12/2023
Hindustan Times / by G Mohiuddin Jeddy
A team of the Delhi police special cell arrived in Mumbai on Saturday to question activist Gautam Navlakha in connection with the Newsclick foreign funding case. Navlakha is currently under house arrest in Navi Mumbai in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case. Read more
Activist Gautam Navlakha to be questioned over foreign funding, links with ISI
24/12/2023
India Today / by Arvind Ojha
The special cell of Delhi police will question activist Gautam Navlakha about his alleged involvement with Chinese funding and a nexus with Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, who was arrested by the FBI in the US.
The Delhi Police special cell will interrogate activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha at his residence in Mumbai next week, as part of the ongoing investigation into allegations of foreign funding and connections with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI. Read more
Delhi Police seek 3-month extension for NewsClick probe, to question Gautam Navlakha Wednesday
19/12/2023
The Print / by Bismee Taskin
Also accused in Bhima Koregaon case, activist Gautam Navlakha will be questioned in connection with ‘illegal funds’ which Delhi police claim were routed to NewsClick, it is learnt.
The Delhi police have sought a three-month extension before a court here to complete its investigation in the NewsClick case, ThePrint has learnt. Read more
Delhi Police gets permission to question rights activist Gautam Navlakha in Newsclick case
16/12/2023
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
The police want to question Navlakha, a shareholder of PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd, about illegal funds’ they accuse him to have received in the past five years
Delhi Police’s Special Cell has got a court’s permission to question human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the UAPA case registered against him and staffers of the NewsClick website, at his home in Navi Mumbai, where he has been under house arrest in the Bhima Koregaon case. Read more
Granting bail to writer and activist, Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case (Bhima Koregaon case), the Bombay High Court, found insufficient evidence to prima facie indicate Navlakha’s involvement in conspiring or executing terrorist acts
… The court’s assessment in the Gautam Navlakha bail hearing highlighted the lack of substantial material linking Navlakha to terrorist activities. It emphasized that his alleged membership with CPI (Maoist) could, at most, implicate him under sections 13 and 38 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, carrying a maximum punishment of ten years. Read more
pudr.org / Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)
PUDR welcomes the Bombay High Court order granting regular bail to Gautam Navlakha, a well-known civil rights activist, author, and journalist, on December 19, 2023. The two-member bench comprising Justices AS Gadkari and Shivkumar Dige ruled that based on a perusal of the documents presented, there was no material evidence to infer Gautam Navlakha’s involvement in terrorist acts as shown in the chargesheet against him under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the National Investigating Agency (NIA). Read full statement
Mahesh Raut was granted bail in September but he remains in prison. A similar fate might await Gautam Navlakha, who was granted bail on Tuesday.
More than five years after he was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, journalist and activist Gautam Navlakha was finally granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Tuesday. However, he is unlikely to walk out of prison soon.
Another person accused in the case, activist Mahesh Raut, was granted bail by the High Court in September. Nearly four months later, he is still in prison. Read more
No evidence to show Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha was involved in terrorist act: Bombay High Court [read order]
21/12/2023
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
The Court the evidence on record indicated that Navlakha can at the most be said to have been a member of the banned CPI (Maoist) and therefore, it would only attract offences under Sections 13 and 38 of UAPA.
There is no prima facie evidence to show that activist Gautam Navlakha was involved in any terrorist act under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Bombay High Court observed while granting him bail in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018. [Gautam Navlakha v. National Investigation Agency & Ors.] Read more Read order
No material to show that Gautam Navlakha committed terrorist act, says Bombay HC in bail order
21/12/2023
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The court allowed the activist’s bail petition on Tuesday, and the detailed judgement was made public on Wednesday.
The Bombay High Court said on Tuesday that there was no material to suggest that activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha had committed a terrorist act as defined by the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Read more
Bombay High Court Grants Bail To Journalist Gautam Navlakha In Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case [read order]
20/12/2023
Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim
There is no material to infer senior journalist and accused Gautam Navlakha had committed a terrorist Act as contemplated under Section 15 of UAPA, the Bombay High Court observed in its detailed order granting him bail in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case.
“The actual involvement of the appellant in any terrorist act cannot be even inferred from any of the communications and/ or statements of the witnesses,” the court observed. Read more Read order
Bombay High Court grants, stays bail to Gautam Navlakha
19/12/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
Following a concerning trend, a Bench of Justices A.S. Gadkari and Shivkumar Dige has allowed a stay of three weeks on the bail Order.
On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court granted bail to journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha. Read more
Bombay High Court Grants Bail To Gautam Navlakha In Bhima Koregaon Case; Stays Order For 3 Weeks
19/12/2023
Live Law / by Livelaw News Network
The Bombay High Court has granted bail to senior journalist and activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon- Elgar Parishad case over alleged Maoist links.
The order was passed by a division bench headed by Justice AS Gadkari, making him the seventh accused to be granted bail in the the case.
After the NIA urged the court to stay the order for a period of six weeks, the court stayed the order for three weeks. Read more
Bombay High Court Grants Bail to Gautam Navlakha
19/12/2023
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
He is the seventh accused to get bail in the Bhima Koregaon case after Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha, accused in Bhima Koregaon riot case of 2018.
A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SG Dige imposed the same conditions for bail on Navlakha as imposed on the co-accused, Anand Teltumbde and Mahesh Raut. Read more
Bombay High Court Grants Bail to Gautam Navlakha in Elgar Parishad Case
19/12/2023
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
The court has put a three-week stay on its decision in which the National Investigation Agency can approach the Supreme Court.
… Five of the accused – lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, poet Varavara Rao, academic Anand Teltumbe, lawyer Arun Ferreira and activist Vernon Gonsalves – are currently out on bail. Father Stan Swamy, a tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest, passed away while in custody.
Activist Mahesh Raut was granted bail in September, but remains in jail as the stay on that decision was extended. Read more
The curious case of Gautam Navlakha’s house arrest
Taking a closer look at the legal and practical aspects of house arrest, the author makes a case for pivotal reforms that the Supreme Court must make to strengthen criminal justice.
… A notable illustration of this pertains to the legal proceedings involving Gautam Navlakha, wherein the Supreme Court has crafted jurisprudential constructs surrounding house arrest within the ambit of custodial arrangements. Read more
NewsClick and patterns of repression: The tiredness of being a journalist
07/10/2023
Newslaundry / by Jayashree Arunachalam
For a particular kind of journalist, life is supposed to play out in sanctimonious technicolour, just like The Newsroom. Speaking truth to power, telling the stories that matter, separating fact from fiction, holding people accountable. Did you annoy a government or local bigwig in the process? No problem! That’s par for the course in the quest for truth. It’s a badge of pride, almost, because you must be doing something right.
… Think back on arrests that made headlines over the past three years. Siddique Kappan travelled to Hathras when he was arrested. Mohammed Zubair referenced a movie trope. Disha Ravi edited a Google Doc. In the Bhima Koregaon case, an extraordinary example of police audacity, the police produced outlandish letters as “proof”, even as the police themselves were accused of planting evidence. Read more
Why UAPA is a threat to media freedom in India
06/10/2023
Frontline / by Venkatesan V
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act serves as a powerful tool for the state to stifle media dissent and intimidate truth-seeking journalists.
The arrest of the NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief, Prabir Purkayastha and its Human Resources head, Amit Chakraborty under the UAPA has brought into focus the gross abuse of the Act by those in power to curb dissent. The First Information Report (FIR) names Purkayastha, the activist Gautam Navlakha (who is under house arrest in the Bhima Koregaon case) and the U.S. businessman Neville Roy Singham. Read more
Police FIR draws on ED claims, links NewsClick to Navlakha-Maoist case
05/10/2023
The Indian Express / by Mahender Singh Manral, Jignasa Sinha, Nirbhay Thakur
Portal rejects China link; Purkayastha, Chakraborty in 7-day police custody
A day after it invoked the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to arrest Prabir Purkayastha, founder and editor-in-chief of news portal NewsClick, and Amit Chakraborty, the portal’s administrative officer, the Special Cell of Delhi Police obtained their custody Wednesday for 7 days in connection with its probe into alleged routing of funds to the portal and Purkayastha’s “friendship since 1991” with rights activist Gautam Navlakha who is under house arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case. Read more
Gautam Navlakha, farm stir, Kashmir map: in Delhi cops’ application for Newsclick founder custody
04/10/2023
newslaudry / by Prateek Goyal
NewsClick’s founder Prabir Purkayastha and its HR head Amit Chakravarty have been sent to seven-day police custody following their arrest in a UAPA case against the organisation. However, the Delhi Police Special Cell had initially sought 15-day police custody for the two, alleging that there was electronic evidence suggesting a “conspiracy” against the sovereignty of India. Read more
This Is the Biggest Crackdown on the Indian Press by the Indian State
04/10/2023
The Wire / by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
And yet, none of the drastic actions taken by the police made much sense.
October 3, 2023 will go down in history for the biggest crackdown on Indian journalism by the Indian state. Homes of 46 journalists, including nine women, who are said to be directly and indirectly associated with the news portal NewsClick were raided by the Delhi police’s special cell that usually probes cases of terrorism in the wee hours of Tuesday.
… We still don’t know the specific charges slapped against the news portal, but some television channels, known for pro-government coverage, claimed that the portal had routed some of the Chinese funds to human rights activists Gautam Navlakha and Teesta Setalvad, who are already under the government’s scanner. Read more
‘Set narrative on CAA stir, Bhima Koregaon using Chinese funds’ — Delhi Police’s case against NewsClick
04/10/2023
The Print / by Bismee Taskin
Delhi Police have accused news portal of ‘receiving Chinese funds routed via US’ & publishing reports ‘with set narrative about protests & violence to tarnish India’s image’, it is learnt.
NewsClick used funds received illegally from China to set and propagate through its coverage a narrative about protests and violence across the country like the farmers’ agitation, the Citizenship Amendment Act protests, and the Bhima Koregaon violence — this is what the Delhi Police has alleged in its case lodged 17 August under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, ThePrint has learnt. Read more
18 Media Organisations Write to CJI; Call for Steps to end Repressive Use of Probe Agencies Against Scribes
04/10/2023
NewsClick / by Newsclick Report
Citing the raids on Newsclick, seizure of devices without following due processes and slapping of UAPA, the letter calls for framing of interrogation norms to prevent intimidation of the media.
A coalition of 18 media organisations across states has written a letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Y V Chandrachud seeking the judiciary’s intervention to ensure that the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution are protected so that journalists can carry out their duty without ‘threat of reprisal’. Read the full text of the letter
Poster by #bakeryprasad
NewsClick raids: Indian law has few safeguards when electronic devices are seized
03/10/2023
Scroll.in / by Abhik Deb
In an earlier case, forensics experts have said that documents cited as evidence had been planted on their devices.
As the Delhi Police raided the homes of several journalists on Tuesday in connection with an investigation into the funding of news website Newsclick, it confiscated electronic devices such as mobile phones, laptops and hard drives.
… Fabrication of evidence in Bhima Koregaon case
However, even more serious allegations were raised with the Bhima Koregaon case in which several activists and writers were charged with making inflammatory speeches at a conclave in Pune in December 2017. Read more
● Statement by Newsclick on Oct 3 Raids by Special Cell of Delhi Police (By Newsclick Team / Oct 4, 2023)
We have not been provided FIR copy, or informed about the exact particulars of the alleged offences. Electronic devices have been seized from Newsclick premises and homes of employees without any adherence to due process.
Yesterday, on 3rd October, 2023, raids were carried out by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police at various locations including Newsclick’s offices, residences of journalists and employees – past and present, consultants, and freelance contributors associated with Newsclick.
Several persons were questioned and continue to be questioned. As of now, our Founder-Editor 76-year old Prabir Purkayastha and our administrative officer Amit Chakraborty, who happens to be physically challenged, have been arrested. Read full statement
