India News | Gautam Navlakha Case: SG Says Naxalism Cannot Be Dealt with Wearing Kid Gloves
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The nation cannot deal with Naxalism wearing kid gloves, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Friday told the Supreme Court.
New Delhi, Nov 18 (PTI) The nation cannot deal with Naxalism wearing kid gloves, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Friday told the Supreme Court.
Mehta made this submission before a bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy, which dismissed a plea of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), seeking vacation of November 10 order allowing activist Gautam Navlakha to be placed under house arrest.
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The apex court warned the probe agency if it is trying to find out any loopholes to defy the court's order, it will be viewed seriously.
Mehta, appearing for the probe agency, submitted that Article 14 of the Constitution says all are equal before law, but here is a case, which says some are more equal than the others.
"There are other prisoners also, who are older than this man and suffering from same ailments but here is a UAPA accused, who wants to be in house arrest," the Solicitor General said.
"I didn't mean to annoy the court. I am not apologetic about my perception but I am apologetic to the court. My perception is that Naxalism cannot be dealt with by the nation with a kid's glove," he said.
The bench said the solicitor general has every right to have his perception but the judges are calm as they have been trained to remain to do so in such situations.
"This man had ISI links and links with separatists of Jammu and Kashmir," Mehta alleged.
The bench asked if Mehta meant to say that with the entire might of the state and the police force, it would not be possible to monitor or keep an ailing 70-year-old man in house arrest.
"There are more hardened criminals than him," it said, adding that an exception has been created by the passing of November 10 order, and now the probe agency has to see that the order of the court is complied with.
Mehta said that Navlakha has suppressed many crucial facts and the place he is to be kept in house arrest is a public library registered in the name of Communist Party of India, a political party.
Justice Joseph said, "What is this political party argument? I don't understand. Is Communist Party of India not a recognised party or is it a banned organisation?"
Mehta replied that Navlakha will be staying in a building which is registered in the name of CPI and has a library.
"If this does not shock the conscience of the court, I will leave it at that," Mehta told the bench, which said, "No. Certainly it does not shock us."
Mehta said, "Is a person accused of indulging in a serious terrorist act will be staying at some political party's office? What is this institution being driven to?"
Justice Roy asked the Solicitor General if he was aggrieved because Navlakha is going to be staying in the library of a political party, or the house arrest itself.
Mehta said that he is aggrieved that Navlakha suppressed facts and he is being allowed to be put in house arrest.
Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, said that the Communist Party has itself condemned Maoists, and anybody with the basic understanding of contemporary politics will understand that Communist Party is a recognised party.
Mehta submitted that whether it is recognised or not is irrelevant to the facts of the case.
Trashing NIA's apprehensions, the top court ordered Navlakha to be placed under house arrest "without fail" within 24 hours.
Navlakha is under judicial custody in Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case.
On November 15, the top court cleared a hurdle in Navlakha's release from jail when it waived the requirement of a solvency certificate for availing the benefit of house arrest.
The top court had on November 10 allowed the 70-year-old Navlakha to be placed under house arrest owing to his deteriorating health.
While issuing the order, the court had also noted that the activist had been in custody since April 14, 2020, and prima facie there was no reason to reject his medical report.
It had said that Navlakha does not have any criminal background except for the present case and even the Indian government had appointed him as interlocutor to hold talks with Maoists.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)