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
The Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad ‘Maoist’ conspiracy case is a grand experiment with truth where the State is daring the people to stand up for justice.
‘TRUTH or dare’ is a mostly verbal party game requiring two or more players. Players are given the choice between answering a question truthfully, or performing a ‘dare’. The premise is simple: Players take turns asking one another ‘truth or dare?’ If they choose truth, they have to answer a question of the asker’s choosing. If they choose dare, the asker dares them to do something rather than make a confession.
Suppose the State were to subject its citizens to a macabre version of this game by cooking up a conspiracy case and locking up people behind bars. Then tell them that in order to win their freedom, they have to choose the ‘truth’ of the conspiracy or the ‘dare’ to dissent.
This is the absurd logic that plays out when you try to make sense of the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case. Read more
Supreme Court adjourns hearing on the dispute over Gautam Navlakha’s place of house arrest by eight weeks
01/09/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
The Bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and J.B. Pardiwala expressed “reservations” over the grant of house arrest to Navlakha by the predecessor Bench.
Today, the Supreme Court directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file a counter-affidavit on Gautam Navlakha’s plea to change the location of his house arrest.
A division Bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and J.B. Pardiwala adjourned the hearing for eight weeks. Read more
Supreme Court Doubts Earlier Order Allowing House Arrest For Bhima Koregaon Accused Gautam Navlakha
01/09/2023
Live Law / by Awstika Das
The Supreme Court on Friday doubted its November 2022 order allowing human rights activist and Bhima Koregaon-accused Gautam Navlakha to be released from detention and placed under house arrest on grounds of his deteriorating health. Such an order, the court orally observed, might set the ‘wrong precedent’. Read more
Video: SC Doubts Earlier Order Allowing House Arrest For Gautam Navlakha
Supreme Court expresses reservations over earlier order to allow plea by Gautam Navlakha for house arrest
01/09/2023
Bar & Bench / by Abhimanyu Hazarika
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and JB Pardiwala orally observed that the order in question did not deal with the merits of the overall case and proceedings against the activist.
The Supreme Court on Friday orally remarked that it may have reservations over its earlier decision to allow the plea filed by Bhima Koregaon violence accused Gautam Navlakha to shift him from jail and place him under house arrest [Gautam Navlakha vs National Investigation Agency and anr]. Read more
NIA claims fact-finding conducted by Gautam Navlakha was sponsored to further terrorist activities
09/08/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
The National Investigation Agency has also claimed that the perception of resistance from members of the banned organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist) against Navlakha was deliberately created.
On Wednesday, a division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Shivkumar Dige continued hearing the bail application filed by journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha. Read more
NIA emphasises charges of conspiracy and common intention to further terrorist activities against Gautam Navlakha
08/08/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
The National Investigation Agency argued that the individual roles of the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case should not be looked into in isolation from the larger conspiracy.
On Monday, a division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Shivkumar Dige continued hearing the bail application filed by journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha. Read more
Gautam Navlakha part of urban naxal movement which arranges manpower, funds for rural naxal struggle: NIA to Bombay High Court
08/08/2023
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
Responding to Navlakha’s claims that he was not involved in any violent acts for seeking bail in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018, ASG Devang Vyas argued that Navlakha was assigned a role in the larger conspiracy.
Human rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha was part of an urban movement to arrange for logistics for the rural naxal movement, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the Bombay High Court on Monday while opposing Navlakha’s bail application. Read more
The National Investigation Agency opposed the bail plea of Elgar Parishad case accused, Gautam Navlakha, in the Bombay High Court.
Opposing the bail plea of Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, the National Investigation Agency told the Bombay High Court that Navlakha was part of “Urban Naxals” to arrange logistics for Naxal movements in rural areas. Read more
NIA Opposes Bail Application Of Accused Gautam Navlakha
25/07/2023
Free Press Journal / by Urvi Mahajani
NIA has claimed that Navlakha is an active member of a banned terror organisation and engages in activities furthering its objectives. The NIA also recovered incriminating documents from gadgets in his house.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has opposed bail plea of former journalist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad – Bhima Koregaon case, stating that the lower court rejected his bail plea on the grounds that the accusations against him are prima facie true. NIA has also claimed that Navlakha was an active member of a banned terror organisation and engages in activities furthering its objectives. Read more
Probe agency opposes Navlakha’s bail plea in Bombay High Court
25/07/2023
India Today / by Vidya
The NIA cited its chargesheet that claims that Gautam Navlakha was recruited by Ghulam Nabi Fai on the direction of Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has requested a one-week adjournment for the hearing of Gautam Navlakha’s bail plea, as the newly appointed Additional Solicitor General (ASG) is yet to assume office. Read more
